Feedback Thread for the Block Editor
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Everyone in this thread is being so nice about the disaster that is Gutenberg.
I’m fed up with nice.
Let’s get this straight.
You have ruined my life.
I spent inordinate amounts of time learning how to write a blog. How to tease my words into interesting patterns to make reading my blog interesting for my reader.
Why do you think Distraction-Free wordprocessors are such a hit with writers?
Here’s a clue – it’s nothing to do with blocks.Unless something is done about a decent, basic (I don’t want more than basic) wordprocessor then WordPress is useless to me and I must spend days, who knows weeks, finding a new host and learning to use their system.
Please!
Do something – or even better do nothing – leave it how it was before this madness took over.David-Just-Had-Another-Fight-With-Gutenberg-And-Given-Up-And-Come-Here-To-Whinge.
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Dear David: Whinge & whine away! We shall all join you. I did not know this Block Editor even had a a name…I would have chosen “CRAP Block’…. (sorry WP peeps). I have been here @ WP 8 years & I ADORE Classic set up. I am not techie or fancy & I like the straightforward Classic Editor. I can find everything I need. And I love Media Library as it is.
I hope & pray WP peeps will hear us & give us a choice…Fingers crossed right?
Sincerely Sherri-Ellen aka nylabluesmum aka LadyMew from THE Purrfect Pad -
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nylabluesmum,
You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve been blogging since January 2017 and prefer the Classic Editor.
Why change something that mostly everybody loves? -
The purpose of this thread is explained at the beginning but it does not really work out that way. Many readers have strong feelings but have not the strength to write their own comment or do not want to repeat what others have said. Many also find it difficult to express themselves in explaining just what the problems are. Also many do not know that this thread exists, but that is something we can do nothing about. Is it really?
All over the place in WP messages pop up sayingtry the new block editor'. They could also say all over the placeread the comments on the forum thread and give us your opinion’.
Then, there is no place to simply add that you agree with and confirm a comment, as there is in the comments on the WP reader blog. I wish to endorse several comments in this thread but do not want to take up space of a comment each time.
I feel that if the true reaction of users to the new block editor were shown, instead of those of a dozen or so who have sent comments, the hatred of the block editor would appear a hundredfold or perhaps even a thousandfold.There is an old proverb ‘Leave well alone‘ which many refuse to heed. The worst offenders in computers are Microsoft, but WP are beginning to follow — I hope this is the last.Genuine improvements, yes, but not at the expense of something that works well.
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Incidentally, someone said that the block editor is needed for columns. It took time to learn how to do it, but I have columns on the first page of one of my sites which I managed with HTML successfully long ago.
Two other problems that I overcame (one partly with the help of your happiness engineer, I forget his name).One was to indent the first line of a paragraph, and the other to start a new paragraph without a blank line. (You must not use p and must use HTML.)
There are problems with the current visual editor, merely entering it and leaving removes background and centring, so I avoid it. I have not tried the block editor and do not want to, especially after reading the comments. However I am surprised that June 1st has passed and nothing has happened. Have they postponed it?
Meanwhile I am happy with the HTML.Finally, where does Gutenberg come in? He supplies free books to download, or is that a different one?
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Quote:
Everyone in this thread is being so nice about the disaster that is Gutenberg.
I must force myself to maintain a basic level of politeness because if I dropped that I would be banned from this forum, or even WP. The shell is very thin. Inside I angry, frustrated and sad.
I too will say that if the Classic Editor is removed, the “writer” part of my life is ruined.
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DaisyMae2017 “if it ain’t broke; don’t fix it!!”
Thanks for backing me/us up…Classic Editor is purrfect the way it is!
Sherri-Ellen & BellaDharma -
I so totally hope WP Admin are truly listening to us Mabel amber…I relate to you that Classic editor is taken away I WILL lose my blogging voice. I ADORE WP & have a good following & have made such lovely friends. And to be silenced because of a Editing program I can’t understand seems so unfair…Hang in there Mabel Amber! Hopefully we will get to keep our Classic Editor!!
Sherri-Ellen T-D. -
nylab
They have promised to keep the classic editor. Let us hope that they keep their promise. It seems that the transfer to the block has been meanwhile blocked, hopefully permanently. By all means keep it as an option for the tiny minority who like it. -
I too love WP – when I discovered it in 2010 I felt elated: “Wow, this is such a great editor, it looks so simple and yet so stylish, it’s a joy to write my posts in that editor, nothing complicated which would distract from shaping my thoughts into visible words; it felt like coming home, a place where people understood what a writing-person needs.
And so six years ago, I felt betrayed; didn’t they understand anymore?
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I am not sure if those who like the block editor are a tiny minority. I don’t think that WordPress will ever release a survey like that, but I suspect that we in this privileged group that still has access to the classic editor because we are legacy users are probably the minority. Newer users have never seen anything but the block editor.
I think this thread was set up just to keep all the venting about the block editor in one place. The people who staff the support forums are not here to defend the block editor and they have no power to change WordPress policy. They are here to help people solve specific problems and they are good at that.
The impetus to blockify the editor and the themes is coming from the very top. The implementation is authoritarian in the way that Apple is authoritarian. They think that they know better than the user what the user wants. They think that if the user just tries it enough to “get” it, the heavens will part, the sun will shine, and all will be well. So there is a lot of pressure to get with the program.
Most of us in this thread tried it, some of us extensively, and didn’t like it at all. I don’t think they know quite what to do with us. Blogging is seen as old-fashioned, rendered obsolete by Twitter and Facebook and the rest. I think WordPress is trying to have a new vision that competes with Squarespace and Wix and such like. We are not part of that vision. But it is kind of embarrassing to to drive away your legacy users, so they don’t know what to do.
Personally, I don’t think this vision will be successful, but if I could predict what the tech world will look like in five years, I’d be a billionaire too.
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I think this thread was set up just to keep all the venting about the block editor in one place.
The people who staff the support forums are not here to defend the block editor and they have no power to change WordPress policy
The impetus to blockify the editor and the themes is coming from the very top. The implementation is authoritarian
They think that they know better than the user what the user wants.Yes, I am afraid that you are probably right on the first, second and third points, and certainly on the fourth.
HoweverNewer users have never seen anything but the block editor.
, is not true, only since June 1st, or not even that. Until then the block editor was an option only that you had to go into.
New users faced with only the blocks are likely to be put off altogether!But they are not, the classic is still available.
I am sure that those who actually prefer the blocks are a tiny minority. -
Hello Haliliac what FANTASTIC news!!!! Thanks for letting me/all of us know!! What a relief!!! *doing a happy dance*
Sherri-Ellen T-D. :) -
@halilic I thought that new users were not offered any alternative to the block editor because of this sentence in the “Learn More” document linked to the announcement on the “My Home” page:
“If you’ve launched your WordPress.com site in the past year and a half you may have never seen our older editor and are likely already using the more recent WordPress editor.”
I didn’t see the “may” in that sentence. So you are right.
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Mabel Amber you took the words right out of my mouth!
I am not a techie…do not know my HTML from a hole in the ground. That was why I love WP. I came here & within 1/2 hour I knew what I was doing. Blogging is meant to be fun & inviting; not a task that gives people a headache…
Plus I lost a few photos trying to sue Block.
Fingers crossed we are all safe using Classic…. -
You are so welcome Sherri-Ellen. I’ve worked with Classic Editor since Jan. 2017 and tried block editor once and hated. I literally had to ask how to get back to clasic editor because block editor wasn’t what I expected.
Hope they keep Classic Editor. -
Sorry to disappoint people, but unfortunately, the Classic Editor is NOT available for users with very new blogs. I have old ones in which I use the Classic Editor (and was able, on one, to switch back to the Classic Editor from the Block Editor), but my newest blog hasn’t got it and hasn’t got a switch for it either. I asked Staff, just a couple of days ago via email support, if they could switch my newest blog to the Classic Editor for me and they said they can’t because it is not available for new users. So I think the ‘may’ in that support article is just a badly worded sentence.
However, I’ve been trying to use the Classic block and in most ways it’s not that different from the Classic Editor that’s currently in the wp-admin (for people who’ve blogged here a long time). I’m still experimenting with some of its functions. I hope to do a blog post in due course about it, possibly with a tutorial.
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@valsrealife Very interesting. I think that “classic editor not available to new users” is policy, not a technical difficulty, and ultimately ideological because the party line is “Blocks are better.”
A tutorial in how to use the classic block in lieu of the classic editor would be popular and useful, I think. However, last time I tried using the classic block, every time I tried to edit the post again there was a pop-up asking if I wanted to convert it to real blocks. WordPress is now salted with not so subtle hints at every corner that if you aren’t using the block editor, you aren’t cool and you aren’t with the program. They must be having trouble getting people to use it if they think they need these pushes all the time.
Also, taking the alternative away from new users indicates that given a choice, they probably wouldn’t choose blocks.
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@guitarsophist you can ignore all the hints and prompts in the classic block and in fact anywhere on WordPress.com. This site has been awash with them all the time I’ve blogged here (since 2009 in various blogs). I think the main problem with the block editor is it’s still new and hasn’t been tested enough yet.
Anyway, aside from that, I was looking for a thread about the expected lifespan of the Classic Editor and came across an excellent one, posted by you (guitarsophist), so for other people:
There’s an excellent thread that was started by guitarsophist on July 13, 2019 and which several members of staff responded to. It’s here:
https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/how-long-will-the-classic-editor-be-available/One particular reply, from kokkieh (https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/how-long-will-the-classic-editor-be-available/#post-3339364), is this:
“Hi there,
The classic editor should be available on WordPress.com at least as long as the official Classic Editor Plugin is supported on WordPress.org, which they’ve indicated will be until at least 2022.”
So now we know. If we still have and still want to use the Classic Editor, we’ve got until 2022. After that, it’s the block editor (or, if it’s still available, the Classic Block inside the Block Editor), or a hunt for somewhere else to blog.
Personally, I think that the whole reason behind the block editor is to encourage more business and commercial users to use WordPress.com, because they can afford the hefty upgrade fees and the rest of us can’t, and unfortunately that leaves personal bloggers way behind. I wonder if Blogger/Blogspot (owned by Google) will go the same way?…they’re also changing their Editor (at the end of June 2020) but, unlike here, even the updated one is still a text editor.
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