Free version is useless with block themes?

  • Jer Clarke

    (@jerclarke)


    2 weeks, 4 days ago

    [Edit: After reading the reply from the plugin author, explaining that there’s another plugin which constitutes a workaround to install the language switcher within FSE, I raised my review from 1 star to 2 stars. I still think the current free version is a dire experience for anyone using FSE, but it’s not totally broken.]

    After doing a lot of research on Multilingual plugins, Polylang seemed like a sensible choice for my project. I installed it on my site, which uses Twenty Twentyfive, to see how it works, but am completely stuck trying to get a language switcher to show so I can try out the free features of the plugin.

    I knew in advance that “FSE support” was somehow a paid feature, but I wanted to see for myself if the free version was truly as useless as that implied.

    I understand if there are FSE features you want to require payment for. I think it’s a bad idea to punish people for using the latest features of WP, but I understand you would want to differentiate that way, and find conveniences related to FSE that you withhold in the free version.

    But not having ANY way to add a language switcher in the default theme? It’s disastrous to the user experience. I just want to try out the plugin on my personal site, but because I am using Twenty Twentyfive, I have to pay full price just to see how it would work.

    Without the language switcher, the plugin is just confusing. I can’t see how my translated posts relate to each other, or test any of the features that in theory work in the free version. I also can’t test whether your support for FSE is any good without purchasing, so should I assume it works at all? Most reviews of Polylang don’t mention FSE at all because it’s new, being able to try it out myself is the only course of action.

    Please: Make the free version compatible with FSE as a baseline, then find aspects of full FSE support that are reserved for the paid version.

    FSE is normal now, it should be possible to try out the plugin with an FSE site and see if it works before paying for the full version.

    Thank you and sorry for the negative review, but I think the experience of someone using the plugin with the default theme should be represented. I’ll be happy to change my review if the plugin starts working with the default themes.

    • This topic was modified 2 weeks, 3 days ago by Jer Clarke. Reason: raise rating to two stars after plugin author reply
Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Plugin Author Chouby

    (@chouby)

    2 weeks, 3 days ago

    Hello,

    Thank you for your review.
    Among all the Polylang users, I guess that at least a few of them are using the FSE too (although I can’t be sure as no stats are available). I confirm that Polylang can be used with FSE themes.
    As stated in the plugin description, we created a separate plugin, Site Editor Classic Features, allowing to use classic widgets (including the Polylang language switcher) and menus in the site editor (FSE).
    Why is this plugin separate from Polylang ? Because it can also be used by non-multilingual sites which could also need to use a classic widget or a classic menu.

    Thread Starter Jer Clarke

    (@jerclarke)

    2 weeks, 3 days ago

    Ok, thank you for pointing out that you do have some kind of solution available. That plugin seems handy for other uses as well, though it does seem like a really unnecessary dependency, considering that you already have the feature available and coded in the Pro version.

    I was trying to set up Polylang based on the documentation here: https://polylang.pro/documentation/support/guides/the-language-switcher/

    If installing your other plugin is the solution, you should add it to the documentation as well as the plugin description.

    Personally, I started coding a custom block just to show the output of pll_the_languages() so I could test out the plugin (and practice making blocks).

    All that said, I’d really ask you to consider: Who is it that is using FSE and the default themes at this point? Is it big industrial clients for whom the Pro license fee is nothing? Is it professionals building sites for clients?

    It really seems to me that FSE is currently disproportionately used by beginner users and/or advanced users building low-stakes low-profit sites. These are people who are going to be looking for free solutions, at least at first, and something they can’t try without paying is going to be a non-starter. Why make it so hard for them, with complex workarounds involving extra plugins that make the whole interface more confusing? For a new users using FSE because it’s default, telling them to ALSO learn the old menus and widgets system is really upside-down.

    Just make FSE work out of the box, but with limitations that make you want to get the paid version, like you do for classic themes. The biggest strength of Polylang compared to WPML, for a newbie, is that you can use it for free. I’m sure this model has helped you a lot over the years, but it’s not going to work if newbies using FSE are kept out.

    Your reply makes it sound like you don’t think you have a lot of FSE users, well yeah of course not. With the way the freemium system currently dissuades beginner FSE users from ever trying Polylang, your FSE features are never going to get used at all 🤷🏻‍♀️

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