The Gutenberg text editor in WordPress
In 2018, WordPress switched from their Classic Editor to a new editor called Gutenberg. Designers love it. Writers loath it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Failure 2. Destroys Empty Lines
Failure 4. The HTML block is trivial
The Classic Editor plugin is only temporary
OVERVIEW
I have a WordPress site called Explore the Faith. It has more than 1,700 articles. Most of those are long-form, with around 2,000 words each.
When my WordPress site upgraded to WordPress version 5.0, the text editor was changed. It was no longer the Classic Editor. Instead, it was Gutenberg.
After some testing, I concluded that the Gutenberg editor was a disaster for my work.
In the short-term, I was OK. There was a WordPress plugin called Classic Editor. I installed that plugin. With that, my WordPress site was usable.
In May 2021, I wondered if the Gutenberg had improved. Maybe it would be OK for my WordPress site.
So I tested the Gutenberg editor. I built a new WordPress site. It was the as-shipped version of WordPress, with no plugins or user content.
Then I tested it by writing articles. Here are my findings:
FAILURE 1. MULTIPLE DOCUMENTS
Imagine writing a 2,000-word essay in Microsoft Word.
You start a new document in Microsoft Word. You write your text. You add formatting.
When you are done, you have one document. It contains your words and your formatting.
That is how writers do their writing. And many website text editors work that way.
But Guternberg does not.
Each paragraph is a separate block. I think of it as a separate “document.”
And each space in-between is also a separate block, or “document.”
So that 2,000-word essay? In Gutenberg it is a collection of more than a hundred separate blocks, or “documents.”
In Microsoft Word, nobody would produce a 2,000-word essay by writing 100 separate Word documents.
Conclusion
Guternberg is inefficient. It wastes time. It disrupts the creative flow that is so essential in long-form writing.
FAILURE 2. DESTROYS EMPTY LINES
The standard for writing on the web is HTML5.
In the past, WordPress allowed writers to use all the possible features of HTML5.
But the new Gutenberg text editor strips out some HTML5 functions. It does not ask for your consent. It doesn’t even notify you.
Here is an example. In the Classic Editor, you can add a blank line by hitting the Return key. Behind the scenes, the Classic Editor simply adds a non-breaking space character.
But in Gutenberg, the first time I save changes, Gutenberg replaces that character with an ordinary space character.
On the front-end, that does not make an empty line.
The next time I save changes, Gutenberg replaces the ordinary space character with this:
<p> </p>
On the front-end, that too does not make an empty line.
I even tried manually typing this:
<p><hr /></p>
But that too did not make an empty line on the front-end page. And in fact, upon saving changes, Gutenberg replaced it with this:
<p> </p>
Conclusion
In my WordPress site, I have on the order of 50,000 blank lines. Gutenberg will destroy them all.
FAILURE 3. DESTROYS ANCHORS
Sometimes webpages will have links that jump you to a different place on that page.
Those are called Anchors.
This page, in fact, has Anchors. Here is an Anchor link that will take you to the Table of Contents. The links you see in the Table of Contents are Anchors too.
My WordPress website probably has on the order of 100,000 anchors.
I wondered what Gutenberg will do about them.
The first problem is that Gutenberg does not provide a way to make Anchors.
The second problem is that if I use the Code editor to add an Anchor, Gutenberg deletes them.
Gutenberg does not allow Anchors. Instead, it obliterates them.
Conclusion
In my WordPress site, I have on the order of 100,000 Anchors. Gutenberg will destroy them all.
FAILURE 4. HTML BLOCK IS TINY
Sometimes you need to write in HTML code.
In most website CMSs, there is a button to switch to “code view.”
Then you get the full text editing experience. But you are writing in HTML code.
However, in Gutenberg, if you select an HTML block, you get a trivial little window for code.
On my laptop screen it is about two inches tall. It only displays seven lines of text.
There is no apparent way to make it bigger.
Conclusion
The HTML block is so trivial that it is essentially useless for more than a few sentences, much less thousands of words. Or tens of thousands of words.
FAILURE 5. NO MARKDOWN BLOCK
Many writers prefer to write in Markdown. Accordingly, many CMSs provide that as an option.
However, Gutenberg does not.
Instead, here is what you can do. In your own editor, you can write in Markdown. Then you can paste the entire text into Gutenberg.
Then Gutenberg will parse each paragraph into a separate block. And convert your Markdown into standard Gutenberg.
Your Markdown is GONE.
And there is no Markdown view.
Into Gutenberg I pasted in a large block of Markdown text. Gutenberg parsed my text into a hundred separate Blocks. It was gross.
Also, it stripped out all my empty lines.
Also, it stripped out all my Anchors.
Also, it converted my Markdown text to Gutenberg format.
My Markdown text was obliterated.
Conclusion
I prefer to write in Markdown. But Gutenberg obliterates Markdown.
THE CLASSIC EDITOR PLUGIN IS ONLY TEMPORARY
It might seem that I can keep using the Classic Editor forever.
However, at some point in the future, WordPress will take away the Classic Editor.
Previously they said they would maintain the Classic Editor until December 31, 2021.
But more recently, they changed their timeline to this:
Classic Editor is an official WordPress plugin, and will be fully supported and maintained until at least 2022, or as long as is necessary.
The Classic Editor is still going away. Whether 2021 or 2022, it will be replaced with Gutenberg.
They include the phrase “as long as is necessary.” However, they do not define what that means. It could turn out to mean a decade. Or a month.
The following words are from a discussion thread in the Support Forum at WordPress.org:
All new development is going to be block-editor based. The block editor is the future of WordPress.
The older editor will not be supported forever, and will be phased out as time goes on.
You should plan your migration now.
CONSEQUENCES
Whenever Gutenberg is finally mandated, site owners like me will face a reckoning. For me, it will be severe.
On that day, Gutenberg will refactor my 1,700-some pages. It will destroy tens of thousands of blank lines. It will destroy a hundred thousand anchors.
Thousands of hours of my work will be obliterated.
MY DECISION
Gutenberg is not compatible with my work as a writer.
When it arrives, it will obliterate thousands of hours of my work and wreck my site.
I need to flee WordPress before Gutenberg is imposed. I need to switch from WordPress to a different CMS.
RESOURCES
2018
Version 5.0 at WordPress.org
Say Hello to the New Editor at WordPress.org
2019
Discussion thread in the Support Forum at WordPress.org, dated March 2019
2020
On not choosing WordPress for the W3C redesign project at Hacker News
2021
Classic Editor at WordPress.org
An Update on the Classic Editor Plugin in the Blog at WordPress.org
Originally published on August 30, 2021
Last updated on October 28, 2022
TOPICS: CMS, WordPress,