Blog

One Liner Wednesday – WordPress Strikes Again

Maggie

 

Why can’t WordPress leave well enough alone?

Well, the classic editor was stripped from my account overnight. Either I decide to take on the block editor, or I move to another platform. Such a disappointing development.

One liner Wednesday is brought to us each week by the lovely Linda Hill. Please visit her blog to read the rules, read other one liners, and possibly join in the fun!

28 thoughts on “One Liner Wednesday – WordPress Strikes Again”

    1. Ally, I am going to update my old website with WordPress today and see what editor options I have. I refuse to pay WordPress for hosting and continue to let them have all the control over my content and over the platform. I generally write on my iPad, but the block editor’s lag and difficulty handling touch screen commands make it even more frustrating. I am just worried they will now remove the plugins which make the classic editor available. Migrating my site and not losing all my followers will be a royal pain in the butt.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. I hear you about an iPad with WP. I can’t do it so I sit in front of my old desktop computer with my keyboard and mouse. Not a bad thing, but a thing nonetheless. Good luck if you migrate your site.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Considering over 55% of internet traffic is from mobile devices, I am surprised they are lagging so far behind while pushing technology that does not perform well in the mobile environment. Does not make good business sense.

          Liked by 1 person

  2. When ever I see the message ‘continue with the classic interface’ I know there is a learning curve coming whether I want it or not. It then becomes a choice of choosing when I want to learn/struggle with the changes or wait until the provider decides I have no choice in the matter. Progress is relentless and frequently very inconvenient. Good luck with the transition Maggie.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. The block editor on mobile devices is awful. I used to be able to grab my iPhone and add Linda G. Hill’s one-liner link to my scheduled post in about 30 seconds. I can’t do it on my phone at all because the WP link dialog don’t get out from behind the keyboard. I can do it on my iPad, but only if I turn on the external keyboard i don’t need.

    I’m sorry you were switched without warning. You can just toss in one Classic block and work as before. At least until you figure things out.

    I don’t like paying them and giving them control, but I don’t want the headache of dealing with plug-ins and updates on my own. I am comfortable with the block editor – after 8 months – and I have even found some features I like. I just wish they would fix the problems.

    Good luck, Maggie, whichever way you go.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This change also changed the entire menu system. The familiar Dashboard is gone. I cannot see, for example how much storage I have remaining. I can only see the default statistics now. All the data may be there, but I have not take the time to dig around yet.

      Dan, one question. I cannot see plugins from the free site. Does the ‘disable gutenberg’ still exist?

      I know I can figure this all out. I just hate this mentality of just pulling functionality without notification. I also hate it for bloggers who just will not tackle the new challenges.

      When I was starting in Web design almost 10 years ago, the push for mobile was starting. To have a platform that seems to ignore the high percentage of mobile users just boggles my mind.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I don’t subscribe at the level that allows me to add plugins, so I don’t know. The Classic Editor plugin is still available and it says it restores the previous editor and is maintained by WordPress.

        I am still working out of the previous dashboard. I just use my domain with ‘/wp-admin’ appended. I have to refresh that to go back and forth, as they keep taking me to the new one, but the workaround works for me.

        If they’ve switched you, it might be time to change themes. That’s why I switched when I did. My theme was not being supported and the new ones were all for the Block Editor. Some things did work better after I switched, including the speed (although not good enough).

        Liked by 1 person

  4. As of today, I still have the option to create posts using the Classic Editor. I do that via Admin Dashboard, then Posts. I click the box next to ‘Add New’ and choose ‘Classic’. If I want to edit a published post in Classic format, I have to find it as a draft by searching old posts in the categories, then edit in Classic.
    If (surely when) this happens to me, I am going to struggle, I know. I only pay for the ‘Personal Plan’, and that doesn’t allow plugins. Interestingly enough, WP declared that they were changing to the Block Editor to make life easier for people using mobile devices. That is patently not the case. I still use a PC/Keyboard, and cannot contemplate using a phone or Tablet.
    If you change platforms, I will of course still follow you, if only by receiving email notification of your posts.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Pete, I just posted a new ‘how to’ post where I found away to workaround the new interface. I do not know how long it will last, but for now it works.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. My Admin page looks nohting like yours though. Maybe because I never Sign out/Log off? I just keep a shortcut on my PC start page, and go straight to WP without logging in.
        Best wishes, Pete.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. I figured they’d do that eventually, even though they swore they wouldn’t, at least not until later.

    I’ve been using the block editor for a few months now (or it feels that way), and figured out a way that lets me carry on as before without too much disruption. Of the roughly 150 different block types, I use maybe five. In some cases, I’ve defined reusable blocks, which can, in fact, be converted into plain ol’ blocks so I can modify the contents without modifying everywhere the blocks are used. I use the Custom HTML block a lot for things like embedding videos (because the block they defined doesn’t position the video the way I like),.for constant footers (like the ones on Monday’s Music Moves Me), tables (because the block they’ve defined for tables is stupid), and any other type of embed (e.g. tweets, Instagrams, etc.)

    I should do a video on what I did…. anyway, my point is, make the block editor do what you want it to do, and screw ’em if they can’t take a joke.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. John, I just read you can export reusable blocks and share them with other users. Maybe if I can configure a couple of them I can share them.

      I did find another workaround and posted a how-to in case others get hit.

      Like

  7. I have learned to deal with the block editor on its simplest terms. I try to stay away from anything complicated because I simply don’t want the headache if things go awry.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I could do that as well, but the block editor is horrible on mobile devices – at least for me. I found a workaround for now so I will keep on until they make another change.

      Liked by 1 person

  8. I hated block editor at first. Now it’s the new normal. Boy I dislike that phrase. New abnormal maybe. Glad you found a workaround.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. WordPress is no longer a blogging platform, but a webpage generator. They’d rather have commercial interests using their hosting and software than us lowly bloggers that got them where they are today.

    My forum software is the same way. You can’t find any free add-ons for it anymore. All about business and money.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I totally agree, Ron. As a web designer my clients wanted a flexible platform that they could easily maintain themselves. The classic editor made that easy. I am glad I am not trying to sell this editor to clients. It would not go well.

      Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.