Removing the scrollbar from the post editor one of the worst "improvements" yet
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WordPress.com’s developers should finally realise that:
1. Open source is no excuse for poor code
2. Open source is no excuse for rolling out changes without first ensuring they work properly (i.e. testing them extensively and doing proper QA)
3. Open source is no excuse for lack of support
4. Open source is no excuse for ignoring user feedbackBut I don’t think they’ll listen. They say they’re doing professional work, yet have the mentality of a teenage hobbyist.
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So from what I’m understanding, it’s this change that’s creating the stupid blank space at the top of any post when I try to edit them today?
If that’s the case, I’d also have to say I’m not a fan of this “improvement”. It’s making editing a post to get it right a huge chore. Might be worth rolling it back while you work out the bugs… staff would be getting a lot less complaints to handle if they did.
Ahhh…. and a quick “heads-up” about any future changes before they are implemented would keep most from deluging you with the inevitable “WTF?” posts too…. Just a thought.
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@mistressneko, what you’re asking for is called Quality Assurance. I highly doubt anyone in WordPress.com is familiar with it. I think that, if I tried to explain it to them, their heads would explode.
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>1. Open source is no excuse for poor code
don’t confuse ‘design decisions you disagree with’ with ‘poor code’ — they aren’t the same thing. and open source code is, in my experience, (on average) AT LEAST as good as commercial-closed-source code.
>2. Open source is no excuse for rolling out changes without first >ensuring they work properly (i.e. testing them extensively and doing >proper QA)
lack of testing is not unique to any type of code development. (anecdote: i wrote a story about a major-ish computer company that released multiple software patches that had never been tested — i managed to prove that. since many QA problems come from a rush to meet deadlines, i would venture the opinion that open source code is probably _less_ likely to have QA problems.
>3. Open source is no excuse for lack of support
actually, open source kinda sorta is. it’s the nature of the beast. for ‘much’ open source support comes from the community and, ultimately, from you: you have the source code, so fix it. if that’s a showstopper, then don’t use that software. wordpress (.com, for certain) is a complicated situation.
>4. Open source is no excuse for ignoring user feedback
see #2.
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I’ve seen poor code in both proprietary and open source software; such as medical records software without foreign keys in its database (which also isn’t sanitised, and is terribly vulnerable to SQL injections).
As for QA: I attend Linden Lab’s open source development user group meetings every week; the amount of alpha testing, beta testing, RC testing and QA scrutiny that each commit goes through has to be seen to be believed. And still, bugs do get through, but at least both the corporate devs and the third-party viewer developers acknowledge them and work on them. Here, we see denial.
Re: support. No, it’s not. Well, it is, if what you’re writing is a little gizmo of very limited usefulness and interest (like most of the abandoned projects on Sourceforge). But when you’re developing something that aims to take up a big portion of its market (like WordPress does), you absolutely need proper support. Otherwise, you’ll be superseded by others who “get it”, and users won’t care if the software is proprietary or open source – they want something that works, and a team that listens and helps.
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thenakedlistener did create a very good list!
Awesome round up. I see more cons than pros. The whole change is miserable in my opinion. Problem is… wordpress is my blogging home and hell yea… it would be too great if we don´t get forced to this kind of heavy changes or at least informed so that we can run riot before the changes impact our writing life. A lot of usability is taken away, it´s not an improvement, changes are always annoying especially if destroy more than they improve.
Also there are several annoying bugs since the change that appear randomly sometimes, sometimes not…
1. It happened that the edit bar (where are icons like link / b-quote and so are) moved away from it´s place and changed from a horizontal to a vertical and placed it´s aside the editor (totally broken).
2. Proofread button does not work in the text editor sometimes while it works in the visual editor. The whole text I wrote will not be visible anymore if I click it. But if I click the button again to disable proofread, the text will appear again.
3. At times but rare… if I hit enter key to create a paragraph, it might happen that text in the paragraph before will be deleted. This is a rare bug but happened few times already.
But sometimes the problems are gone for a while. I deleted cookies and cache with ccleaner and it didn´t help. But later, everything worked again, that is strange. But I´m not sure for how long.
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Interesting . . . my topic (https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/editor-was-changed?replies=15#post-1959867) was closed to replies right after http://shawnajroberts.com/ implied I’m using insults.
Quote:
“We really appreciate constructive feedback about why you don’t like the changes, with specifics. Those types of comments are a great thing to add to that thread.If you just have insults, then it would not be very constructive or helpful to add.“
I’m pretty sure I did not use any insults, and it’s also pretty obvious my constructive criticism is to return the slider to its rightful useful place.
I was annoyed before, but now I’ve graduated to irritated. If I wanted to be insulting, I would do so openly. I’m very good at it, so I don’t appreciate the implication that what I wrote was insulting (critical, yes); it’s an open slam on my ability to insult.
But, as Mal says, air through the engine . . . here’s some ‘constructive criticism’. WordPress seems to have recognized the segment of bloggers that likes to put up long posts. In fact, I believe they suggested tags for them so that others who like something more than the single-picture-post can find them.
It then seems strange to me WordPress would implement a change that specifically negatively affects those individuals.
I also respectfully suggest that the statement “WordPress.com is always experimenting to try to get better” seems to contradict the other statement “If the changes we make here are disruptive in a way that requires you leave WordPress.com, we’ll be sad to see you go, but we understand. “
For one, few people choose to leave when things “get better”.
Second, that sounds to me like a strong suggestion that I should in fact depart, and that perhaps WP won’t be overly sad to see me go. It reads exactly like “so long, and good riddance.”
. . . of course, I’m easily insulted, so I could be misreading that . . .
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[opinion] Based on my observations we WordPress.COM users are blogging on the guinea pig platform for all WordPress version updates, and the likelihood we will ever be consulted prior to any changes being made, whether or not we have paid for upgrades, is next to nil. About a month after WordPress.com users have been co-opted into providing only positive feedback aimed at improving whatever unannounced and unwelcome changes that have been sprung on us, adjustments will have been made, and the new version will be released to WordPress.ORG users. [/opinion]
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Cursor can sometimes be seen in toolbar area, but when you type something, you can’t see what you’re typing in that case. Sometimes cursor goes ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE SCREEN. I see the cursor but can’t see what I’m typing as I go along. Have to use outside scroll bar to get text to show. and then have limited screen area to correct typos.
FUBAR.
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Not sure if it’s related to the ongoing discussion . . .
Just tried a number of times to “export” my blog (you know, strictly for backup purposes), and each time, after a few minutes, the page changes to “This webpage is not available”.
At first I thought maybe the file was downloaded and the window closed, but I don’t see the file in my download folder, nor does it show up in a search of my hard drive.
Now, far be it for me to be insulting, but I’m wondering if my data is being held as ransom until, you know, I come around to a more positive view of WordPress and their continuing effort to make itself “better”.
Or is this yet another change rolled out by WordPress?
And, yes, I will post this under the appropriate topic.
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@ paladinjustice,
Cursor can sometimes be seen in toolbar area, but when you type something, you can’t see what you’re typing in that case. Sometimes cursor goes ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP OF THE SCREEN.
Not sure if I understand your issue. If the cursor is over the area on which you are typing, why not just move it? You should be able to place the cursor wherever you want it and have it remain there. If it’s drifting, then you might need to change your mouse properties settings. You’ll find many suggestions on how to address this problem with a Google search.
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I have really long pages, and I have to scroll and scroll now to get to the update button, which then I pass and then have to go back and find. Bring back my edit scroll bar, please!
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I hope the staff of WordPress making changes to the platform also use it. And it would be a bonus if one or two of them writes a lot. Why? Then, I fee, we might stand a chance of seeing the issues we are dealing with dealt with. In my experience, when management – supervisors, whatever – who have to to be busy justifying their paycheques, get busy, it’s often trouble-making for the powerless underlings.
I’m dealing with that crap at work right now, where I very well may have to make the decision to take too much crap or quit. And I’m prepared to quit. I’m 58, can’ retire, don’t possess marketable skills and face a deliberately tight labor market where workers have zero security and are totally disrespected. ‘Some’ workers, I should add.
WordPress has been awesome. I’ve paid nothing for my privilege, which I appreciate. Then again, I don’t earn a living wage in this wonderful capitalist paradise in which the rich and corporations (including banks) have ferred away between $21 and $32 trillion dollars in tax havens.
But one tiny thing can kill it all. And if it’s one tiny thing that rich, powerful special interests want (think of the tweaks that mutilated Windows 8 so that MS could take better advantage of the tablets), then what can I, without a dime, do in order to not lose the WP that I have come to love and depend on?
One tiny thing? Whatever WP has done, my composing ability has been impaired. The system is sluggish. I have to slow down and type at less than half my normal speed! And that’s everything. Is someone hearing this?
And yes, I’m willing to pay something to keep what I had.
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Discovered another new issue which presented after yesterday’s modification of the page and post editors by WordPress. Gallery editor will not open, button does not work, in FF (updated to latest version yesterday, cleared today). Gallery editor button does work with Google Chrome.
Here’s the latest summary of the issues that I’ve encountered on one WordPress blog since yesterday’s WP mod.
1. Missing internal post editor scrollbar and resizer, resulting in more difficult access to the publishing panel, tags, etc. Many WP.com users have confirmed within this thread that this change results in more work and time required to edit and/or tag posts, or to perform other administrative chores because now more time (approximately twice as much as before, I find) is necessarily spent scrolling.
2. YouTube codes and text from WordPad (also Notepad and presumably other similar editing tools) are stripped as soon as pasted into post or page editor in visual mode. Above, I mistakenly said YouTube code was removed at update. The stripping is occurring immediately upon pasting into the editor in each case. Update to latest FF version and clearing the browser had no effect. The same issues present with Google Chrome, though see #5. below.
3. Cannot center or flush-center pair images in visual editor as I’ve done for at least 3 years.
4. White space of variable size, usually quite large, at top of editing window while in visual mode. Not present in text mode.
5. Gallery editor button does not work with latest Firefox version, the brand new 31.0. Therefore cannot edit any galleries with the new FF browser. Will try the previous version. Gallery editor button does work as normal with Google Chrome.
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My main issue is (and I write 6k+ word posts two or three times a week) the lack of the ability to page up and page down (page stutters, but document doesn’t scroll up). Internal (in-editor) scrollbar is gone in favor of some auto-stretch window, and navigation has been complicated many times over by this.
Basically, as far as I understand it, the usual (rightmost) window scrollbar works, but the auto-focus on the cursor/auto-window stretch supercedes that, and insta-bumps me back to my old position when I try to page up.
I’ve been left largely unable to navigate the document I’m writing, short of a ctrl-f to find a phrase in the right neighborhood and liberal use of the arrow keys. It’s crippling.
My blog is Pactwebserial.wordpress.com
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wildbow,
Sympathizing with you. I have many long posts, though seldom do I compose any long paragraphs to insert in them. When I do, however, I’ll compose on an external editor such as WordPad, then paste the finished product into my page or post. Since yesterday, however, pasting from WordPad or Notebook into a post/page fails in visual mode. Still works in text mode, though I’m not placing any bets on whether it will work tomorrow. -
I’m having fun doing one of my long posts (sarcasm), and came across one other minor thing that’s not working . . .
Can’t insert a poll . . . click the button, dialog box open (blank), goes gray, then turns off.
Anyone else experiencing this latest improvement?
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The word “crippling” says a lot. I constantly have to try to retrieve my writing which is hiding behind the toolbar, but as soon as I move it down with the far right scrollbar and type a letter, it jumps back into its hiding place. Scroll, type a letter, jump, scroll again, etc.
Limiting myself to short posts until this thing is made functional again.
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Just got done with a long post . . . lots of writing and lots of pictures.
I’m not having the problem you describe, but I’m not using the distraction-free option.
I just start editing like I normally do, and while the menu on the right scrolls away, the writing menu remains visible as I scroll.
I don’t like the full-screen option because the fade-in/pop-up menu does not have all the formatting options, and also it’s pretty slow.
Then again, perhaps the editor behaves differently for different layouts. I’m still with the 2010 layout.
The main annoyance is scrolling up to save, and scrolling up to add tags as needed. I now write tags down and hope that I remember to add them all at once before publishing.
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@ paladinjustice,
I constantly have to try to retrieve my writing which is hiding behind the toolbar, but as soon as I move it down with the far right scrollbar and type a letter, it jumps back into its hiding place.
You’ve mentioned jumping around of text a few times in this thread. I haven’t seen any text jumping. Lots of other weird stuff in the past 36 hours or so, but no jumping text. What browser are you using? Have you updated it recently?
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