Title: Block Respect
Last modified: August 11, 2018

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# Block Respect

 *  Resolved [irishetcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/irishetcher/)
 * (@irishetcher)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-respect/)
 * It seems most of the friction against Gutenberg stems from blocks being a foreign
   concept to many. And for many of those people there are many logical reasons 
   why the block interferes with their workflows and use cases.
 * So, can I make a number of suggestion that may smooth the transition and actually
   add some real killer features to Gutenberg.
 * The first is an option in writing settings regarding which block to start with:
 * Start new pages and posts with:
    • Blocks • Text Editor (TinyMCE – Classic block)
 * I suggest giving the title Text Editor as, for many, TinyMCE and Classic may 
   be meaningless. And naming it Classic is unnecessary in any event
 * You could even do this with a drop down to select whichever block you wanted 
   to use as default on page/post creation. Say you wanted cover image as the first
   item in your posts and pages, this would be automatic.
 * The main point I am making here is that the blocks or text editor choice delineates
   between two different ways people want to work. And, if working with the text
   editor (Classic) block only, one can switch back and forth with the Classic interface,
   where necessary without having to deal with the comment tags delineating blocks.
 * The next suggestion is a way to de-block the content so that it is put back into
   one block, the text editor block (Classic). This could be done with a button 
   somewhere in the interface. You can already simulate this by selecting all the
   blocks, cutting, then pasting into the classic block. The only thing you have
   to do is manually remove the tag comments to preserve the “everything in one 
   block state”. The stripping of the comment tags could surely be done with a script.
 * The benefits of this are many.
 * Where content in blocks needs to be reverted, because working in one block is
   more practical for a certain use case or, more favoured by a developer or writer
   taking over post content creation.
 * The other benefit relates to page structure and layouts. It is obvious that blocks
   could play an important role here for things like sections/rows/columns or a 
   flex/grid option in future iterations of the Gutenberg project. It is something
   that solves the big issue with page builders. Using blocks as a basic foundation
   for page building/layout could come with an API allowing vendors of page builders
   and themes to add their own bells and whistles and interfaces.
 * Using Gutenberg as an intro to page building for new an users, once mastered 
   they can opt for something more sophisticated.
 * The big benefit here is that, by using a common foundation, users will be able
   to switch themes and page builders in more frictionless manner without leftover
   shortcodes etc. And, developers can just de-block if they don’t want to deal 
   with these layout structures.
 * One last suggestion. There should be a more visible way to switch between the
   Visual Editor and the Code Editor. Naming one Writer and the other Developer 
   would be more clear in relation to what each of these do. I think users are intelligent
   enough, where they are only into content creation with visual elements, that 
   Developer is an advanced space that they will not want to visit.
 * The Developer (Code Editor) really needs some sprucing up. Some work in this 
   area was done when code mirror was introduced to WordPress recently. It is evident
   in the HTML block but needs to work more like a proper IDE much in the vain of
   CodePen or Codeacademy. It needs a dark mode, better syntax highlighting, better
   code completion and respect for formatting and indentation.

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

 *  [lizkarkoski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lizkarkoski/)
 * (@lizkarkoski)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-respect/#post-10596133)
 * Good morning –
 * [@irishetcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/irishetcher/), thanks for 
   your time in putting these thoughts together. The best place to note them is 
   going to be in Github. There, they’ll get in front of the right eyes.
 * [https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/new/choose](https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/new/choose)
 *  Thread Starter [irishetcher](https://wordpress.org/support/users/irishetcher/)
 * (@irishetcher)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-respect/#post-10596217)
 * Thanks for considering this a super idea and for offering to pass it to the dev
   team.
 * Much appreciated.
 *  [lizkarkoski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lizkarkoski/)
 * (@lizkarkoski)
 * [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-respect/#post-10601307)
 * Of course, happy to help.

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

The topic ‘Block Respect’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 3 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [lizkarkoski](https://wordpress.org/support/users/lizkarkoski/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/block-respect/#post-10601307)
 * Status: resolved