I was wrong

  • UPDATE:

    I am amending my original view after recently speaking to a few clients after seeing them trying to use Gutenberg. As a web developer, I was ready to fully embrace Gutenberg and was really excited when I could see what sorts of custom blocks I could create and relished the chance to get stuck into some React. But after seeing my clients try to use it to write their blogs (normally done in Word, then copy/pasted into WP), using the blocks, my opinion has changed a bit.

    As a website page builder, I have had few problems with it, but as a blog editor (which WP has always been at its core), it’s poor. Very poor.

    Main problems for me currently:

    • Too much white space in the editor
    • Unable to select multiple blocks to format them. This is frustrating since paragraph tags are created as blocks, and trying to format multiple paragraphs currently isn’t working.
    • Controls appearing on hover is just plain bad UX. Needs to be a toggle to show them all the time
    • Keyboard shortcuts needed to reorder blocks up and down
    • Using columns and nested blocks is just a plain awful experience and needs major work

    Fix those, and you’ll start to see more favourable reviews, I guarantee it. I REALLY want to use Gutenberg, but it’s just not ready at the moment.

    Further to this, it also seems like WP moderators are overstepping their mark on many reviews here and trying to convince the negative reviews that they are wrong, which I find a little disturbing. Not directly related to how Gutenberg works, mind (and in no way did this reflect my 1 star review), but it is not a moderator’s place to convince people that Gutenberg is great, when someone thinks otherwise. The plugin developer (Tannie?) who responds to posts is doing a great job of trying to identify the problems people are facing, but WP admins and mods seem to have taken on the role of a PR person. Not cool, WP.

    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
    • This topic was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by wickywills.
Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

  • The biggest reason for the backlash is (from my perspective and this includes myself) a lot of people want this to be optional not something forced upon us/them. Like I said in my own review a few days ago. This has potential, but when a task that takes me 5 minutes now takes 30 minutes with Gutenberg I’ll stick with the current system.

    Also, a lot of people don’t have coding experience, web-building experience, etc so this could be a potential issue for them. But, I digress on that point.

    The biggest issue here is being forced into something that what seems like a vast majority of people don’t want. It goes against the WP dev’s and creators saying repeatedly that WP is all about the freedom of users. Also, WP isn’t really just a web-building platform. People use it for blogging and other types of writing.

    Prime example: I use it for fanfiction with a group of other writers.

    Also, for being around for 14+ months a lot of bugs exist (and many seem to have been around for a while) that have been causing conflicts. I get that this is a beta, but some of these issues are pretty ridiculous.

    Anyway, I hope that answers your questions @wickywills

    There is also the consideration of the time taken to build a web page using blocks for every element. I have a website that uses the <div> element and css to create independent blocks each with different formatting. I write each page in Notepad and then copy and paste into the html section of the classic editor. I can then do a quick check in view before publishing.

    Using Gutenberg I would have to create and format each block one at a time. As some pages have in excess of 1,000 blocks each with different information this simply an impossible option for this site. If it goes into core I will have to use an override or look at a different platform.

    Thread Starter wickywills

    (@wickywills)

    @confusedfire Thank you for your reply. I do understand and accept the points you raise. Personally I work for an agency as a website developer working on a wide variety of sites and we can’t really see any major issues using Gutenberg going forwards.

    The biggest issue here is being forced into something that what seems like a vast majority of people don’t want.

    Are you judging this from the reviews on the plugin? Because 450 or so negative reviews is an incredibly small amount of the total WordPress users when you consider WordPress sites make up about 30% of the internet. Many of the reviews here are very short and almost spammy (e.g. ‘I don’t like it, don’t put it in core’) and seem to be from people who just like to moan about something because others are doing it without offering any constructive feedback.

    Many plugin and theme devs are already working on updates for the switch to Gutenberg. There’s going to be teething issues like any major change, and I do feel there should be a generous transition period (i.e. a way to disable Gutenberg – a ‘compatibility’ mode if you will) to help, but I am looking forward to seeing what plugin devs can come up with!

    Thread Starter wickywills

    (@wickywills)

    RE my point about a ‘compatibility mode’, the release of 4.9.8 has an option to keep the standard editor, and apparently this will also be in place when core is updated to 5, for the foreseeable future, so I still don’t understand many of the problems here. Moreover, other plugin devs have already made plugins to keep the standard editor if required.

    450 -ve reviews is not a significant number compared to WP users but… How many people are not aware of Gutenberg or the intention to include it in core. I guarantee on the update to 5, if Gutenberg is included the negative comments and cries of derision will increase a 1000 fold when people are suddenly confronted with this.

    Thread Starter wickywills

    (@wickywills)

    I have actually amended my review. Not due to any of the comments here, but based on my own recent experience with clients. In my excitement while creating blocks, I was blind to how users with limited technical knowledge would be using the new editor. After seeing some clients using it first hand, it just isn’t good and I feel it would cause a lot of problems in it’s current state. I hope the Gutenberg team can resolve the issues many are facing here, and I look forward to using it again, but I now feel it is not ready, not even close, for a merge into core. At best, it should be included as a plugin like Akismet and Hello Dolly. Nothing more than that, at this stage.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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