Feedback Thread for the Block Editor
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This is what staff member @supernovia told me/us:
Hopefully keeping the classic editor in place for the foreseeable will be helpful.
I hope that WordPress acts on the quoted words to serve those of us who have no desire for anything else but this fine “sheet” of digital paper rolled into our computer/device, which satisfies our blogger needs perfectly well.
My personal motto, since an early age, has always been and will always be “Keep It Simple Stupid”.
Should WP take away the Classic Editor, I will go elsewhere, but not without a big tear. -
I must agree here. I love the classic editor. In fact I got an idea for you if you want to introduce block editor again, Give the people who use WordPress for writing, blogging and such a choice between the Classic editor and the Block editor. Let them choose and don’t let WordPress make automatically make the decision for me. No!! I want a choice between Classic Editor and Block Editor.
Don’t get rid of the Classic Editor because if you do, you may lose a lot people including myself. If you WordPress insists on keeping the Block editor, keep the Classic Editor and let us choose what editor we want to use—Classic or Block. -
A PS to this post of mine, above daisymae2017’s post:
https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/feedback-thread-for-the-block-editor/page/4/#post-3504072
In fact, I set up home at Word Press in 2010 precisely because of the Classic Editor and its smooth functioning and “roominess” which I find so inviting as it were, to sit down and write, having grown somewhat sick and tired of the constant bugs and glitches I was experiencing at a blogging platform offered by a certain internet giant starting with a G.
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I think that what a lot of us are reacting to is the way WordPress has handled this. Ten months ago, they were threatening to cancel the classic editor and I got very worried. I investigated the block editor, tried writing some posts in it, interacted with support, and decided to go back to the classic editor. I was happy again. But recently, pop-ups started showing up saying that everyone was going to be switched to the block editor, so why not try it now? That made me mad again.
What makes it worse, I think, is that the marketing keeps saying that the block editor is easier and better. It’s not. It is perhaps easier to do some things that some people want to do. But if you don’t want to do those things, it is not easier or better.
My home page now says “The new WordPress editor is coming. Get a head start before we activate it for everyone in the near future.” It used to say, “on June 1st.” I guess they are backing off again. That’s good, but it is not going away.
Since the purpose of this thread is supposed to be to give feedback about the block editor, perhaps a suggestion would be to change the way it is marketed to users. Something like, “The block editor is not for everyone, but if you want to have features such as columns, side-by-side images, tables, etc. embedded in your posts, you should try it.”
But to tell the truth, if I want those things, I do them in other software and save them as images.
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My reply to this thread is long, but hopefully it will highlight the problems with this new editor.
Re supernovia’s original post on page one of this thread. She asks (on behalf of WordPress.com):
What is your typical process?
What is getting in the way?
If you could adjust one feature, what would it be?Okay, let’s do a comparison here:
My typical process in the classic editor (which I stilll use on two other blogs here) is to deal with the settings for a post first. I don’t like sharing button so I uncheck that and I dislike the like button, so uncheck that, and I like to have comments turned on, so I check that. In the classic editor these are easy to see and easy to adjust and the panels don’t disappear depending on where you have your cursor at any one time.
In the blocks editor, these settings are in different places, some of them hidden under drop down menus. I have a very bad memory and can’t recall which panel I had open last or which option lives under which icon, so I have to keep clicking each icon to find what I need as the panels close when clicked away from.
The next thing I would do in the classic editor is type in the title (and later, if I changed the title, I could easily change the permalink/slug). I don’t find the title field easy to distinguish from the rest of the block editor so have recently been forgetting to put in a title at all. As for where to change the permalink/slug – this is again in one of the panels and again is difficult for me to find and remember where it was as the panels close themselves.
In the classic editor, all the options are within view all the time (and those that are unwanted can be changed via the ‘Screen Options’ drop down at the top of the window). I know some can be hidden from view in the block editor’s panel – and I’ve done that – but the ones I want still vanish too frequently.
Next, I start typing my post. In the classic editor, it’s easy. I just type, and when I need a photo (or an embed, more about this shortly) I either get one from the media library or click and drag one from my desktop into my post. It’s simple. If I want to delete a photo in the classic editor, all I need to do is click on it and remove the photo.
In the blocks editor, I still can’t remember how to put in a photo – I have to keep hunting around the screen. It’s not intuitive, this editor. It might be to staff of WordPress.com – you’re mostly programmers, I’m not, Most of us aren’t and we don’t have the same type of minds that can easily pick everything to pieces and come up with a whole later.
And to remove the photo? The only way I’ve found to do that in the block editor is with a keyboard shortcut (Shift+Alt+Z). What a palaver. (That said, my husband said to try the delete key and that worked too!)
One of the things I love to use in a blog post is Google Streetview. In the classic editor, all I need to do is copy the embed code and paste it straight in and when the post is in preview or when it’s published, it works beautifully.
In the blocks editor, to embed a Streetview, is open up the code editor and do it from there. That shouldn’t need to happen, but you don’t have a Google Streetview block.
To use the classic editor, I can click on the Classic block, yes, but it deposits the toolbar above the paragraph, with the toolbar not showing any tools until it’s clicked upon. That hadn’t occurred to me at all to start with – clicking on it to open it – as it’s so unintuitive. Then above the toolbar and getting in the way of a paragraph or image or whatever is there above the one current one, is the toolbar’s small options panel. It is CLUTTERED. Sorry about the caps, but I can’t emphasise this enough: it’s cluttered. I want to see a page of text, interspersed with the images and embeds I want, not the controls and their options as well. How is this simpler or clearer than the rich text editor? It’s not.
The Classic block toolbar remains above the paragraph/s I’m typing and have typed, but BELOW any image or embed. That breaks up the text even more. How am I supposed to visualise what the post is going to look like with all this unnecessary rubbish on the screen? Yes, I know I can click ‘Preview’ but that takes me away from the editor and I want to see it where it is. The wp-admin classic editor does that: you can see it as it is, where it is.
I’ve found another way to use the Classic block, other than clicking the plus icon or searching for it, and that is to start typing my post (from the beginning) in the code editor, instead. When I want to add a photo (best done at the end of doing the text and any embeds), I click on the Visual Editor and it shows me I’m using Classic. But doing it this way is not without its problems as, if I then need to edit anything via the code editor I’m confronted with all the code. Some is fairly simple (just copy and paste the beginnings and endings) but some of it isn’t – and there’s no wysiwyg.
A way to stop new blocks appearing when pressing Enter, is to do the ‘poetry format’ trick and press the key combination of Shift+Enter, once for a new line, twice for a new paragraph, but I don’t always remember to do this.
What’s getting in the way, is that it is not easy, it is not intuitive, it is cluttered. The side panel controls I need are not visible all the time. The icons at the top don’t indicate what is beneath them. I know you have tooltips (the text that is seen when the cursor is placed on them without clicking), but ‘More tools & options’ over the 3-dot icon does not tell me what those tools or options are; the Jetpack icon says nothing other than ‘jetpack’ and the cogwheel – which is settings – has a multitude of different things hidden beneath drop down menus. And there are two tabs to the settings options: Document and Block. And of course, block changes depending on what block you’re in (if any).
What’s getting in the way is there is too much for an ordinary person – ie, not a programmer – to remember. Too much new stuff to learn.
What’s getting in the way is that as well as bringing all this mess to us at all, you’ve chosen to do it during the Covid-19 pandemic when most of the world is so stressed out that we can’t take anything more onboard. People have died from this, people have lost family, people are suffering, scared, anxious, depressed. What on earth do you all think you are doing to us? It’s not helping at all.
If I could adjust one feature? You know the answer to that: I’d get rid of the whole block editor. That would be a good adjustment.
All I want – all we want – is something simple on which we can write our blog posts. That’s all. And it was fine as it was before.
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Hello WP: I have been blogging here since August 2012 & I LOVE your site! It is wonderful…
Then Block Editor arrived & I couldn’t do a post at all. It is seriously not easy to navigate & it makes no sense to me whatsoever! Classic Editor is perfect…
There is an old saying: “If it isn’t broken; don’t fix it!”
WP people Classic was & is fine the way it is. Please let us have the choice of which editor we use….PLEASE!!
If I am forced to use Block editor I will not be able to blog…..I am sure many others feel the same way.
Sincerely, Sherri-Ellen T-D. aka nylabluesmum -
If you really want to use the classic editor, it is still available: https://wordpress.com/support/editors/#classic-editor
We also have tips for transitioning from the classic editor to blocks https://wordpress.com/support/switching-from-the-classic-to-the-block-editor/ and FAQs: https://wordpress.com/support/replacing-the-older-wordpress-com-editor-with-the-wordpress-block-editor/#frequently-asked-questions
We do recommend the new editor though, and we have some extensive documentation available at https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/
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If you really want to use the classic editor, it is still available:
Yes please. And I would be eternally grateful if you kept it for all time to come. A “classic” is not called a “classic” for nothing.
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Thank you staff-blorbo
Yes, I really do want to use the classic editor – it makes writing a joy – unlike your block editor, which makes the whole thing more of a hackathon.
It may be hard to comprehend – but we writers just want a reasonable word processor – we have no desire to move blocks around.
The reason for this is that writers strive to get out of their readers’ way – they don’t want anything to interrupt the flow. They want reading their words to be effortless.
The block editor is the complete antithesis of this.
Please – just leave us with our simple word processor and we’ll go away and stop complaining.
Otherwise, I’m sorry to say, most of us will just go away.
I’ve been here since 2012 – so it will be hard, but I can’t produce my articles the way I want to in the block editor – if that is my only choice then WordPress ceases to be the place it always has been – and I will sadly seek another home.
Thank you
David
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staff-blorbo I’ve raised this issue in email (and have included a screenshot) and am waiting for a second reply, but just in case anyone else has this problem, I cannot see the ‘Switch to Classic’ in the 3-dot menu options. It simply isn’t there. I’ve cleared my cache many times, still can’t see it, and I’ve tried two different browsers (Opera and Firefox) with no difference, so I presume the fault is with WordPress.com. Or maybe it is because I’m trying from a new blog that didn’t start off with the Classic Editor in wp-admin? Anyway, I hope this will be sorted soon.
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@valsrealife I opened a “new” blog for a friend and there was no Classic Editor. It was available in the “plugins,” so long as you’re willing to pay money. A WP employee installed Classic for this blog, so now, every time she goes to use WP, a bill for $300.00 pops up in the right hand corner.
So, if blog is brand new, Classic Editor doesn’t exist; find it in plugins and pay, or ask again in email if it can be installed for free, but you still get a bill.
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I just happened to be doing work at Youtube and found out that they were/are trying to phase out landscape for laptops. It’s not surprising that WP wants to follow the trend, because you know, Google. And that’s what Blocks are for, cell-phones.
The problem is that “word” “press” is/was attractive for writers. We type. We research at our offices and homes and construct text. So making writers do all this work on a tiny cell-phone is the goal, but most writers don’t want that and for good reason. It’s funny, because research and efforts are underway to help people with cell-phone obsession, but companies like Google and WP want money through increased cell-phone use.
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Hi, @valsrealife
The Classic Editor is available in WP Admin — the classic WordPress dashboard. You will often see images of this dashboard when looking at WordPress tutorials online. While you can do almost everything in your main WordPress.com dashboard, you can use WP Admin if that is your preference.
quoted from https://wordpress.com/support/editors/#classic-editor
If you go to your WP Admin,
https://inmyrealife.wordpress.com/wp-admincan you see the classic editor?
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@phtasmagoria Thanks. I’m not willing to shell out a business rate to be able to access plugins, so that’s out of the question and, having just had a reply to my support email, I now understand that it’s impossible for someone with a new blog here to access the classic editor in wp-admin, only the classic block version of it in the block editor. As for writers not being able to type on a phone, yeah, I know it.
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@ galois. Thanks for your attempt to help me, but no, I can’t see it. It seems (from what I’ve just been told by staff in a reply to my support request by email) that users with new blogs here don’t have the option. This is something they really need to put in their documentation about it. I have other blogs here that I’ve had for years – some from long before the block editor was brought in – and on those, I can access the classic editor from wp-admin, which is just as well as it’s what I’ve been using all along!
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@valsrealife I see what you mean. I just created a new test blog with my other account writer0004 and there is no option for the classic editor in WP Admin.
However, on that new website (which is free — no custom plugins or anything like that), if I go to the block editor, I can still use the Classic Block (which is exactly the same as the classic editor from what I can tell).
I then left this draft and came back to it — I didn’t receive a message asking me to convert fully to (paragraph) blocks, it just let me continue using the Classic Block.
Have you tried this? You can get it by going to the block editor and typing/classicinto a new block. Just by typing that and hitting ‘enter’. If you need help adding it (to an already-made post for example) you may wish to read the support article https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-editor/blocks/classic-block/#add-a-classic-block. -
I’ve been blogging in WordPress for 11 years. My blogs are all still classic editor. I do not see a toggle between classic and block in any of the dashboards or in any of the places that tutorials say they should be, though there are picks in various other prominent places asking me to switch to the block editor. I might be tempted to try the block editor again in one of these blogs if I could be sure that I could switch back again if it turned out badly.
Is it true that new users have no option? I used to have students start blogs in WordPress as a class assignment. If the block editor is the only option, that is out of the question.
It is weird that blogs started at different times have different options in the dashboards. That must be really hard to support.
The only reason I am still here is that self host options using other platforms that offer reasonable speed, security, and support plus the ability to post files for users to download are significantly more expensive than Premium WordPress.com.
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@valsrealife why not dump this new account you’ve created and build you new site using your existing older account. It seems to be the age of the account rather than the age of the site that determines if you have access to the WP Admin dashboard and hence the classic editor.
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Many thanks MacManx (Great name!) for your assistance. I totally want to continue using Classic Editor. Trying to absorb new info & use an Editor that makes no sense to me is frustrating.
It ain’t broken; so why fix it? Just saying….
I want to thank everyoen who has emailed about this issue. It is much appreciated.
Sherri-Ellen aka nylabluesmum aka LadyMew -
@writer0001 Where the option to switch, should be (but isn’t on mine because it’s a new account), is inside the block editor, at the bottom of the settings menu that one gets to by clicking the vertical 3-dots in the block editor’s side panel. It should be below ‘Options’.
Yes, I’ve used the classic block, but I don’t find it the same as the classic editor. My major problem with the block editor is that all the surrounding options and controls distract me. The person who responded to my support email suggested (amongst other things) that I turn on ‘Spotlight Mode’ (found in the same 3-dot menu) as then I could focus my attention just on the block I’m using, but that won’t help me as I have memory and concentration problems due to a physical health issue and if I can’t see what I’ve just written, I forget what I need to write next!
I have read all the support articles, as far as I know. But thanks.
@guitarsophist I first came to WordPress in 2009, too. I’ve seen so many changes, including the introduction of the editor they are now phasing out. I’m hoping (against hope) that the block editor is simply a replacement for that editor and that the(different and older) classic editor on wp-admin will remain, but I’m not optimistic about it.The toggle is meant to be in the block post editor itself. See what I said above to writer0001 about how to get to it. If it’s missing from there and you’re already using the wp-admin, then I suspect we’re all in trouble (but don’t quote me on that).
If you’re going to try the block editor, first make yourself a free test blog for it (a private blog which only you can see so that you can test layouts, settings, etc) so that in case you can’t switch back you won’t have lost anything.
@themagicrobot Thanks. Yes, this is just what I was thinking of doing. I’ll probably use one of my test blogs, I have a few from way back. I just hope the classic editor is allowed to remain… -
I whole heartedly agree, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
I started blogging in January of 2017 and have always used Classic Editor. I love it. Easy to use.
I know when you introduced the Block Editor 3 years ago then again in 2020(this year), you meant well. In fact, you all thought you might be helping us out. However, best laid plans usually go well haywire and that what’s happened here. I appreciate you tried to make something easier but as it turns out, Classic Editor is so much simpler and easier to use. Please Let us who want to use Classic Editor keep using it and Let the ones who want to use Block Editor use it. Just let us have a choice and not make the decision for us.
Thanks for trying to make things easier.
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