Staying up-to-date with the latest web design technology is vital. But the WordPress Gutenberg Block Editor is a bridge too far.
Gutenberg or Classic?
OK, I know I’m a bit late to the table here. The Gutenberg Block Editor was introduced in WordPress back in 2018. It was named after the inventor of the modern printing press, Johannes Gutenberg, with a more than ambitious nod towards democratising publishing and making information more accessible to all.
As with most new systems or processes, it took a couple of years for web designers and developers to get on board. But that still means it’s been around for over 5 years now so surely, I should have fully embraced the new way of building websites. Not least because I frequently bang on about the need to keep moving or die when it comes to the latest web technologies.
But I can’t.
I know it’s leaner and a bit faster. I know it offers me Full Site Editing (FSE) which should give users more control but it just leaves me feeling a bit lost.
Nobody asked me
I’m a freelance web designer working in Harrogate, North Yorkshire so I shouldn’t be too surprised at having not been consulted by the good people at wordpress.org before they rolled out a new editing system.
But I’m not sure who was consulted. It seems that Gutenberg had more than it’s fair share of issues in the early years and web designers and developers became beta testers to an unstable system. And it’s sooo different to the Classic editor. FSE looks and feels like a complete replacement rather than a natural upgrade.
Old dog, same old tricks
I thought maybe I was just getting long in the tooth. My modus operandi of staying ahead of the learning curve was looking decidedly flaky.
But then I realised that new doesn’t always equate to improved. The Classic WordPress editor has so many more tools in the box for the Web Designer who wants to deliver a visually engaging, interactive website, offering something above the flat and the geometric. I’m all for good content but I’m also a big fan of the aesthetic – websites should look and feel good.
And then I noticed that the Classic Editor WordPress plugin that allows users to override Gutenberg was been downloaded over 9 million times. So I’m not alone then.
