What were you thinking?

kcyarn
(@kcyarn)

4 years, 9 months ago

As a freelance writer, one of the services I offer my clients is uploading finalized content to their WordPress site. Using a tool like org2blog, I can upload a post in under 2 minutes. With the pre-Gutenberg classic editor (i.e., pre-Wordpress 5.0 and the classic editor plugin bug fiesta), the same post took under 10 minutes. FYI, I expect to upload a post, add all the images, and edit the meta in 10 minutes or less.

With Gutenberg, the exact same post takes upwards of 30 minutes. That’s insane. I thought my posting speed would improve as time wore on, and I adapted. It hasn’t.

Gutenberg gets in the way. I don’t know if it’s by design or not, but the classic editor plugin is flakey, which means it’s not a viable alternative.

After over 10 years using and recommending WordPress, I am extremely disappointed. Early adopters tried this plugin before it was added to WordPress’s core. Their reactions ranged from disdain to outright hatred. Rather than go back to the drawing board or, better yet, ask the user community what we wanted, you elected to force Gutenberg down our throats. Here’s a hint. When you have over 1700 1-star reviews, you should rethink your position.

I don’t typically write reviews of WordPress plugins. However, I downloaded and installed Ghost yesterday. After a few hours experimenting with it, I’m looking at my WordPress site and wondering why I’m torturing myself.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

Orlando Alonzo
(@ogalinski)

4 years, 9 months ago

@kcyarn

Can you *please* provide a very basic layout description of the post you tried to edit with Gutenberg? I mean something like “ten paragraphs, one image at the top, two inside text”.

Oh, and one more thing: Gutenberg and Classic Editor are made by the same team. Just sayin’.

Thread Starter kcyarn
(@kcyarn)

4 years, 8 months ago

@ogalinski Sorry for not replying earlier. As a clarification, the post is as follows:

* 1700 words
* 15 links
* 2 unordered lists
* 1 ordered list
* 1 image plus a feature image
* 11 headers
* 2 block quotes

The writing process uses either markdown or Word as the client prefers. The sole concern is how long it takes to post prewritten content along with its prewritten metadata.

Over the last three months, I’ve posted over 50 articles (500-2100 words) to client sites. Most use Gutenberg because it’s what their site upgraded to. (Although it feels like several change their editor every week…) Before posting the first review, I installed the bleeding edge plugin on a localhost and tested it. For prewritten long form content, the experience was the same as the earlier Gutenberg versions. No improvement.

Long-term, I can see Gutenberg working as part of a site builder. It may even offer a better writing experience. I wouldn’t know. For long, prewritten pieces, it’s clunky.

Orlando Alonzo
(@ogalinski)

4 years, 8 months ago

@kcyarn

Thank you very much for the detailed response. My experience with GB has been positive so far (even writing long content), but I’m not going to taint your review. Just wanted to understand what gave you trouble. Thanks again.

Moderator Jan Dembowski
(@jdembowski)

Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

4 years, 8 months ago

@kcyarn Much thanks for that excellent reply.

I’m closing this as it’s moved to “blog post” territory and that’s not appropriate for this support forum. I’ve archived all of the replies from users who mistakenly thought this was a blog post. It’s not.

If anyone want support for anything WordPress or want to help other people in the community with WordPress, please do so. This whole review section for Gutenberg does have some good feedback, both negative and positive.

But unhappy people are brigading here to use the reviews to vent in the form of a blog post and that’s not appropriate for a support forum.

If you wish to blog please do so. Just not on this site.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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