Want to return to the Classic Editor
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I’ve tried to adapt to the Gutenberg editor since it was imposed on us in WP.com world, and it’s just not working. Posts that used to take me five minutes to finish now take 15-30 minutes depending on how hard Gutenberg fights me (sorry, “helps” me). I need an editor that lets me do what I want to do in the way I want to do it, quickly and efficiently. That’s not Gutenberg.
In a previous post (https://wordpress.com/forums/topic/struggling-with-free-site-and-gutenberg/), you were able to restore the Classic Editor to someone else who was running one of the older, pre-Gutenberg themes. Can you do the same for me? I’ve been maintaining this site for ages, so it should qualify. Thanks in advance.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi there,
You are welcome to use the classic editor, which is still available by following the steps here: https://wordpress.com/support/classic-editor-guide/
Posts that used to take me five minutes to finish now take 15-30 minutes depending on how hard Gutenberg fights me (sorry, “helps” me). I need an editor that lets me do what I want to do in the way I want to do it, quickly and efficiently. That’s not Gutenberg.
If you don’t mind my asking, could you expand on how the editor is fighting you in this case? At some point the classic editor will be retired and I’d like to get your feedback in front of our devs so they can consider it as they make future enhancements to the Gutenberg editor.
Thanks for the additional info!
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The workaround doesn’t work for me. I hover, but no additional menu appears.
A few of of my many frustrations with Gutenberg:
- It doesn’t understand that I don’t want a separate block for each paragraph.
Converting a reusable block into a static one is fiddly and doesn’t always work. - Getting to the reusable block management function is unreasonably obscure.
- When I try to save a post made of reusable blocks that I’ve changed, it refuses to publish the post until I save the changed blocks. When I do that, it destroys the content in previous posts that used those blocks.
- The floating block toolbar inevitably floats over something I need to edit.
- Rather than a WYSIWYG view of my posts, Gutenberg gives me a jacked-up, cluttered view with nonexistent blank lines where I’ve deleted blocks I couldn’t make work right. I never quite know what my post is going to look like until I preview it or publish it.
In short, Gutenberg gets in my way. (Judging from some of the other posts I’ve seen here, I’m not unique.) It tries to force me to do things its way, and its way doesn’t work for me. It’s unpredictable and fussy. It adds no value. It’s a science project that’s gone awry.
If you’re really interested in the well-being and productivity of your customers, you won’t do away with the classic editor. Instead, do what you’ve done with WP.org — allow us to make our own decisions about which editor we want to use. So far, I see absolutely nothing in Gutenberg that’s in any way an improvement over the classic editor.
- It doesn’t understand that I don’t want a separate block for each paragraph.
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Hi there,
It doesn’t understand that I don’t want a separate block for each paragraph.
Converting a reusable block into a static one is fiddly and doesn’t always work.There is a trick to this. When you hit the return/enter key to start a new paragraph, hold the shift key at the same time. Instead of starting a new block the cursor will just jump down a line (single space) so you can keep doing that to start new paragraphs and they will all be contained within a single block.
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Getting to the reusable block management function is unreasonably obscure.
I agree with this. It’s also something that is on the radar of the devs for this project. In the meantime, you can bookmark this to make managing reusable blocks easier: https://purefictionleague.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit.php?post_type=wp_block
When I try to save a post made of reusable blocks that I’ve changed, it refuses to publish the post until I save the changed blocks. When I do that, it destroys the content in previous posts that used those blocks.
Reusable blocks are intended to be linked to one another, so if you edit one you edit all the others as well. For example, if you wanted a “subscribe to this blog” block on every page of your site. Some site owners do this, and then if they want to edit the message in the block, instead of editing every page, they edit the reusable block once, and it updates every other instance site-wide.
It sounds like you are trying to use them as a starting point (something of a template) that you want to be able to customize individually and not have it connected to the others, yes?
To do that you can convert the re-usable block to a regular block instead. That will allow you to edit it without affecting the other instances. Here is a video to show you where to find this option: https://d.pr/v/jVbbth
The floating block toolbar inevitably floats over something I need to edit.
You may want to try the “Top toolbar” option which keeps the floating toolbar pinned to the top of the page, so it’s never in the way. Again this is easier to see in the form of a video, so I have linked it here so you can see how to access this setting: https://d.pr/v/yEmxIa
As shown in the video, no matter what block I click in Gutenberg, the toolbar is at the top of the page instead of floating over the content.
Rather than a WYSIWYG view of my posts, Gutenberg gives me a jacked-up, cluttered view with nonexistent blank lines where I’ve deleted blocks I couldn’t make work right. I never quite know what my post is going to look like until I preview it or publish it.
This sounds pretty specific. Is there a page or post on your site where I can see this in action? I’d like to take a closer look at how it looks within the editor to see what you mean. Thanks!
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I’ve found that converting a reusable block to a static one is fiddly and doesn’t always take, which I discover when I try to publish a post. Plus, it’s one more unnecessary step between me and getting my work done.
I’m sure that with enough workarounds and kludges, I can get Gutenberg to act like a crippled version of the classic editor. But why should I have to?
If Gutenberg is such a good idea, why doesn’t WP.com force the paid plans and business plans to use it? Why doesn’t WP.org? WP.org gives us a choice. Why can’t we have the same choice on the free WP.com? My website is for a writers’ critique group that has no budget, otherwise I’d switch to WP.org in a heartbeat. Alas, hosting fees would be a deal-breaker for the group.
I’ve read on this forum and elsewhere about people who hate Gutenberg and want a real editor back, so I know I’m not a lone voice in this particular wilderness.
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