Gutenberg is Now Being Foisted Upon WordPress.com Users – Here’s How to Avoid it

14.11.2018 Nate Hoffelder 13 Comments

We’re five days away from the official launch of Gutenberg, the new WordPress post and page editor, and I finally have an answer to one of the most important questions:

No, WordPress.com users will not be forced to use it (at this time).

Mike Cane tipped me to the news that Gutenberg is being promoted to WordPress.com users. Users have the option to switch between the Gutenberg and what is being called the WordPress.com "classic editor". Yes, you can switch, and those of us who prefer the traditional WordPress admin menus can still use those menus. (See the FAQ for more detail.)

For those who are just hearing about this for the first time, Gutenberg is the name given to the new WordPress post editor. It is intended to make it easy for you to make richly formatted pages and blog posts, and has been under development for about 18 months now. On WordPress.com, it will look something like this:

Gutenberg has been a contentious topic in the WordPress community. Support for Gutenberg comes primarily from above, while a significant minority of users have pushed back and pointed out that we are quite happy with the features of the existing editor. In fact, the "Classic Editor" plugin that is intended to disable Gutenberg actually has almost as many users as the official Gutenberg beta-testing plugin.

If you have a WordPress site, you should familiarize yourself with Gutenberg and decide whether you want to use it:

My recommendation is that you avoid it for now, and wait for the developers to wrk out all the bugs.

Comments

Lyn November 14, 2018 um 3:52 pm

No, I am NOT happy with the current editor. It’s not anything like a happy place. More like a strait jacket. Gutenberg has to be better!

Mike Cane November 15, 2018 um 6:16 am

There are THREE generations of editor. Gen 2 & 3 (3 is Gutenberg) both suck.

Steven Ramirez November 14, 2018 um 8:26 pm

I tried Gutenberg, and it sucks. Thank goodness for the Classic Editor plugin!

S. J. Pajonas November 15, 2018 um 2:40 pm

I’m quite happy with the Classic Editor, as I always use it in HTML/Code mode since I’m a web developer first. My awesome host (Pair) has already made sure everyone has the Classic Editor, even though I installed it on all my sites earlier this year. I’m not a fan of Gutenberg but I may use it for a future site. Not for anything I already have built though!

Bill Peschel November 15, 2018 um 5:58 pm

I love the current editor, but I’m used to writing posts using HTML and simply cutting and pasting it into the editor.

One of my sites uses the Gutenberg plugin, and I have found no advantage to it.

Deborah Jay November 18, 2018 um 5:32 am

I use a free wordpress site, so no plugin option for me 🙁

Anna Erishkigal November 18, 2018 um 8:07 am

I got snookered into trying Gutenberg, and it stinks! Thank goodness for the Classic Editor plugin!

A great idea, foisted upon us by ingenious and well-meaning people, but it still stinks :-/

Maybe version 3 will be better?

Annette Aben November 18, 2018 um 10:29 am

The new Gutenberg Editor is NOT easier. It does NOT make my posts look better. Please allow us the option from here on in. While I appreciate that I am not part of the group of people who make the Word Press decisions, I hope that my thoughts can be seriously considered. Thank you

Nate Hoffelder November 18, 2018 um 11:05 am

I like the concept – there are a lot of really awful page builders, and it would be great of Gutenberg killed them off.

But I certainly don’t want to use it everyday.

Jemima Pett November 19, 2018 um 4:50 am

From what I read about it, you need a whole new conceptual framework for your posts to get the best out of Gutenberg. Most of us don’t want a whole new conceptual framework. As someone else reminded us… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
When I have time, I might try it out on one of my blogs. Or set up a test site and play with it. At present, 'when I have time' might be 2020.

Nate Hoffelder November 19, 2018 um 7:13 am

I know! We just want to bang out a few paragraphs, and we really don’t need Gutenberg for that.

serge February 2, 2019 um 7:24 am

Gutenberg, arrogantly nullifies many page builder plugins and makes hundreds of hours of work obsolete. You would think these Word Press geniuses would maintain the whole concept of Word Press being all good things to everyone and not create a proprietary platform that forces people to like what they’ve come up with.

In less than two tears of development, It really falls short of what I thought they might come up with. Honestly, it is high school intelligence at best.