Too much uncertainty for too long
-
I have thoroughly tested each version of the plugin and review open issues on Github daily. The rating given here is as a developer, not as a user.
I have spent 3+ months closely tracking development of this plugin, yet still have no idea which elements (of the 100+ legacy client sites I am responsible for) will need some level of redevelopment to be Gutenberg-friendly.
I also strongly feel it is currently unconscionable to develop new WordPress-driven sites/projects because it is impossible to know what will need to be scrapped and rebuilt when WordPress 5.0 is released (presuming the inclusion of Gutenberg in core at this point).
-
Yes – I really agree with @chthon here. I’m not sure I’m being a responsible business owner if I choose to create sites using WP right now – especially if in a year or less the custom themes I create may be obsolete.
What I think is missing:
1. A Production Version
Even if I wanted to start building client sites with Gutenberg, I can only do it in testing, I can’t move any of those sites to production – therefore I can’t even build new sites with it if I wanted to. I think it is crucial there be a production-ready version for us to use now (or a while before it’s rolled out), since we are creating new sites in WP for clients.
2. A clear guide for making current/recent custom themes Gutenberg-friendly, with a hard deadline.
If we’re going to have to fix/change all those sites to make them Gutenberg-friendly, we need a straightforward guide on how to do it and we need a hard deadline. Because: #1 we need the time to contact our many previous and current clients and explain the issue and #2 then we need time to change them over.
I hope this helps.
Hi @karmatosed,
Do you mind if I dig a bit more into what you are looking to know? What do you feel isn’t clear at this point?
What still is not clear is what I will need to do to make existing sites Gutenberg-friendly, and this is exclusively tied to the ongoing conversation around how Gutenberg will handle existing metaboxes. I appreciate there will be a technical solution for metaboxes at some stage, and whether this is accommodated seamlessly by Gutenberg or requires fresh development time at my end converting fields into blocks, I’m actually not too concerned.
The problem for me, per the title of this review, is uncertainty. The latest issue (reported today, November 3) on Github (https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/3304) again ducks the question of how existing metaboxes, not future ones, will be handled. It’s difficult to understand how it can still be the case that this is an unknown concept, and it really feels it’s time for a consensus on just how broken backwards compatibility is going to be. This comment by youknowriad does not inspire confidence: “When we think the ideal vision of Gutenberg is ready to ship, we’ll have time to discuss upgrade path strategies”. All this currently tells me is it may be a last-minute scramble to update existing sites primarily composed around metaboxes. I think aaronjorbin’s comment https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/3304#issuecomment-341503324 is in line with what @rcvane outlines above.
I have never had any issues running updates on WordPress sites as I’ve always taken care to do things “the WordPress way”. The conversations happening around Gutenberg and existing sites continue to indicate this will no longer be the case.
- The topic ‘Too much uncertainty for too long’ is closed to new replies.
