WordPress takes 3 steps back with Gutenberg

  • When Gutenberg launched I put all of my sites onto classic editor because on first glance it was frustrating and not intuitive. So now I have spent some time and learned how to use it and started guiding my clients how to use it. Sadly it is still frustrating and not intuitive. It takes the fun out of writing in WordPress. I do not want my content divided up into paragraph blocks. I do not want to click 2-3 times to find things that used to be easy to see. Code editing is now full of comments, almost like a bad shortcode theme was deactivated. If your theme does not support Gutenberg it’s default appearance is squeezed. I think the idea was to make it entirely touch and small screen friendly. The fact that WordPress pushed this out even though the plugin was at 2.5 stars seems like a complete lack of respect and connection to the community that has made WordPress so amazing. Really, who would install a 2.5 star plugin? And now it is part of core?!

    • This topic was modified 5 years, 5 months ago by AJD. Reason: political insults removed
Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Moderator Mel Choyce-Dwan

    (@melchoyce)

    Hey @ajd, how are you feeling about Gutenberg these days? Any improvements after the latest WordPress update?

    Thread Starter AJD

    (@ajd)

    I haven’t really tested the new version as I have been using the ‘Disable Gutenberg’ plugin.

    But my first few tests, the interface is a bit better, but not much. Paragraphs still become blocks and when you edit a paragraph, the tool bar pops over the content above, so you can’t see your writing in context, that makes editing in it extremely frustration.

    The icons and their functions are not intuitive or visually connected to the elements that they affect on the page. For example: the gear icon.

    Why is Drop Cap a built in feature? That makes absolutely no sense.

    There is not obvious way to get into code editing and code editing is miserable with all the Gutenberg comments.

    Switching back and forth between Classic and Gutenberg editors causes problems.

    When it is used in a theme which isn’t setup for Gutenberg the edit screen is still frustratingly narrow. I don’t see why there isn’t a default style added so that it is compatible with older themes, since they are forced to use it.

    All in all, I’m sticking with “Disable Gutenberg” for the foreseeable future.

    Moderator Mel Choyce-Dwan

    (@melchoyce)

    But my first few tests, the interface is a bit better, but not much. Paragraphs still become blocks and when you edit a paragraph, the tool bar pops over the content above, so you can’t see your writing in context, that makes editing in it extremely frustration.

    Have you seen the Top Toolbar setting? https://www.wpzoom.com/gutenberg/gutenberg-add-fixed-toolbar/ That might help mitigate some of your frustration.

    The icons and their functions are not intuitive or visually connected to the elements that they affect on the page. For example: the gear icon.

    There’s an issue exploring labels for all icons: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/10524

    Would you want to add your input there?

    Why is Drop Cap a built in feature? That makes absolutely no sense.

    ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ It went in as an early experiment and never left.

    There is not obvious way to get into code editing and code editing is miserable with all the Gutenberg comments.

    There’s some improvements being brainstormed in this issue, if you’re interested: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/17017

    When it is used in a theme which isn’t setup for Gutenberg the edit screen is still frustratingly narrow. I don’t see why there isn’t a default style added so that it is compatible with older themes, since they are forced to use it.

    Yeah, this is a common complaint. There’s a bunch of discussion, as far as I can tell, around technical solutions in https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/5650, but I don’t think any movement yet. I hope this gets tackled int the next couple releases.

    I really appreciate you taking the time to respond with your feedback! I hope Gutenberg improves a bunch and wins you over in the future.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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