Moments ago, I updated my WordPress website to version 5.0 and got the Gutenberg editor as part of the bargain. Now, I have to say I am all for new things. In fact, I had previously tried out Gutenberg when it was still available as a plugin. The reasons why I switched back to the Classic WordPress editor then are the same reasons why I have had to do so now. To put it mildly, Gutenberg sucks. Indeed, the new WordPress editor, which is now the default editor with WordPress 5.0 sucks big time.
It’s all about productivity, dammit!
Now, I have nothing against the team behind WordPress. Indeed, they usually do a stellar job, save for a few instances when things that should be intuitive are not available (continuous numbering as an example).
However, in spite of all the good work, whoever is behind WordPress really messed up with the Gutenberg editor. There are a number of reasons why I have had to reinstall the classic editor on my site less than 30 minutes after getting Gutenberg.
- Gutenberg limits productivity. I know, part of it probably had to do with the fact that the editor was new to me and I still needed to learn the ropes, but the main concern, as far as I am concerned, is creating content, and not on spending hours trying to find my way around the backend of my own website.
- The new WordPress editor is clearly very difficult to use. Somebody or the other must have decided that blocks are the way of the future, yet they really don’t do much, other than serve as a novelty. I know, there is everything to be said about modernity, but people behind the technology that drives our lives should not be obsessed with change simply for the sake of it.
- Gutenberg is really slow. Now, I would probably have stayed with Gutenberg were it not for this factor. Having the cursor freeze each time I clicked on a word while writing an article for my website finally did it for me. I mean, I just want to write, for Pete’s sake. That’s a difficult enough chore without adding to it the fact that the editor constantly freezes along the way.
Users don’t like the Gutenberg Editor
If you think I am the only one who hates the new WordPress Gutenberg editor, then you are very much mistaken. The above screenshot shows the ratings that were left on the Gutenberg download page during the trial period for the Gutenberg plugin.
A Matter of Arrogance
The fact that the people behind WordPress still decided to push Gutenberg, despite the fact that it had received a measly 2.5 star rating during the trial period, smacks on arrogance. Someone should have taken note of this before making Gutenberg an integral part of WordPress. Anyway, getting back to the standard editor is easy enough, as we mention in this article.
I agree, it’s really awful. It’s confusing, the buttons are too big, and I feel like it’s catering to the crowd who doesn’t know a thing about HTML or CSS. As an IT professional and power-user, I get really irritated at dumbed-down products. They even got rid of Headings h5 and h6. WTF? To compensate for that, I’d have to go in and re-do all of my CSS for headings.
+1 here as well. Gutenberg is the exact opposite of user friendly. Thank goodness for the Classic Editor plugin.
Totally useless. I’m sticking with Classic
I have to agree: Having been using the new WordPress editor for a few weeks now, I can tell that I’m not exactly warming up to it. It feels constrained and dumbed down. Toggling between the visual and code editor is now a chore. The flow is interrupted.
I have been giving Gutenberg a fair chance, but haven’t found any useful features. All it seems to do is add unnecessary steps to writing and publishing posts. There are always a couple of extra clicks and scrolls to get anywhere.
Totally agree. It sucks big time.
I would be happy if they would just fix the bugs in it. I currently cannot format my blog post because the editor layers text blocks OVER the image blocks, so you can’t edit the image blocks once they’re there….
… Are there no viable alternatives to this? Because this is bad enough to make me switch away from WordPress entirely. I have no use for a CMS that doesn’t allow basic formatting like moving images around the page.
Unfortunately, WordPress does have issues but it appears to be the only option. You can try Joomla but it’s a new environment altogether so it takes some learning. I had actually grown to like the Block Editor but the latest edition of WordPress appears to have made changes that are negative. Eg, text on my own screen when writing a post is too far to the left.
Our internal organization (120k+ people) is leaving about 70 WP sites behind and moving purely to alternatives specifically because of blocks. Blogs editors should be intuitive – or at least work well for someone that already knows standard WYSIWYG-type editing (Word, etc). Blocks are a barrier to that… so we’ll go elsewhere.
Yah. It’s an issue. But you get used to it….