irishetcher

@angelasjin

I would say that there have been many improvements regarding the new block editor since January. It passes as a basic tool for content management and, though we are not meant to say this, a basic free alternative to some of the page builders out there.

Much of these improvements are being driven by third parties. For example there are several block libraries out there that allow you to take on page layout in a serious manner. For custom post types, the Toolset integration through its suite of plugins is very promising.

This progress is feeding back into where the core team on the block editor are taking the project, which is good.

On the other hand there are still some usability issues that really need to be resolved, like locating the block elements in the minimal interface. This needs to be addressed as all it does is vex and alienate users, specially non expert users who won’t have as much patience as veteran users. I would have some concern still where occasionally blocks go bad and no amount of clicking on some of the troubleshooting options will work. That is not acceptable on production software.

I mentioned in my earlier post missed opportunities. One of these centres on standardisation, an issue that is a legacy one for a long time in WordPress and relates to changing themes/page builders and losing content layout. What would be a killer feature is to have the block editor afford all the infrastructure for layout, albeit in a basic way. Within this provide a mechanism for themes and page builders to hook in their own interfaces and additional features. Change your theme or page builder (or just turn it off) and your content remains intact int roughly the layout you intended, no left over detritus of shortcodes etc.

To conclude, I would say that Gutenberg is good enough to use now, with some caveats. Retaining the classic editor for an ongoing period, rather than till the end of next year (2020) would have been a wiser move and, not requiring users to have to download a plugin to activate it either.

Star rating? At the moment 2.5 — 3.

You need to install a plugin to disable Gutenberg. Either Classic Editor Plugin or Disable Gutenberg is a good choice. There are other methods if you want to research those too. Once you apply one of these you should be returned to what you had before so long as you haven’t modified anything drastically by using Gutenberg.

Bottom line. Gutenberg (new block editor) can be problematic with sites that have been built with older plugins and custom coding. The new block editor also follows a whole new way of working with different workflows that don’t match the way WordPress has mainly worked up until now.

How you deal with this will vary from user to user. Personally all work I do with WordPress will remain using the older editor. I will continue to asses how the new block editor progresses and if it matures into something more usable and less buggy, I will consider using full time on new projects. This could take a year or two, depending on how involved the way you work is tied to the old editor and how easy it is to convert to a new way of working with the new editor.

You probably also need to consider using themes that are compatible with the new editor to avoid any of the quirks that can manifest themselves in a bug like manner.

As someone who is ambivalent myself about the new editor, spending a bit of time, outlining cogently what is amiss regarding it, might drive home where the project is missing some important features.