Wordpress, Stop Trying to make Gutenberg Happen

From the first time I tried the Gutenberg addon plugin before its official roll-out and push onto WordPress, I’ve hated it. Blocks are clunky, finicky, and make no intuitive sense. I don’t need every paragraph to be a separate block… I have copy and paste if I want to move text, or the age-old drag and drop.

I know I’m beating a dead horse when I tell other WordPress users that I don’t like Gutenberg. If you’re not sure what I mean (say you love Gutenberg and are in shock that anybody isn’t using this masterpiece), just check out the downloads for “Classic Editor”, and then check out some of the reviews. People aren’t happy with this push… I mean, they’re really not happy.

Active installations of the Classic Editor plugin sit at 5 million+. I’m roughly 20 of those with all of my sites combined.

According to one reviewer of the plugin, “Without Classic Editor I would leave WordPress forever. I cannot use Gutenberg to save my life.”

And according to GratefulDeb, “I install this plugin on every site now. I think Gutenburg is a big mistake and so do almost all of my clients who wish to self-edit. It’s perfect and I hope you keep it going! When there are over 5 million downloads of the classic editor plugin, doesn’t that tell the WP community something? (like Gutenburg isn’t liked very much)”

Yet, the WordPress crew remains defiant. Gutenberg, they tell us, is the way of the future. These 5+ million websites just don’t understand that wave. We are haltering progress. Gutenberg will be the next great thing! Just wait and see.

And yet, every single time I take a chance on Gutenberg, I’m met with infuriation. Why does it automatically hide the rest of my screen? Sure, I can turn it off… but I don’t want to write in some isolated cave. Also, why does it always pop up with options while I type or try to format. The top bar was fine, thanks!

My main problem with Gutenberg is the insistance that WordPress knows what’s best for its users. The 2022 theme is the “first of its kind” to be entirely a block editor, and yet, we have had Gutenberg pushed on us for years. This feels like the cart before the horse, but I digress. Gutenberg might be the wave of the future, but the future isn’t here yet, and TinyMCE is functional, reliable, and easy to use!

Gutenberg should have remained the addon plugin. Instead, WordPress is hijacking its users’ autonomy and trying to force people into liking the new editor. It’s not working, as you can see by the downloads of the Classic Editor.

The block editor changes my workflow too much. It’s annoying to use, and I find its functionality isn’t even worth it. Even if I did love Gutenberg, I’d still be frustrated by its push on every user.

It’s time for WordPress to admit that Gutenberg is not going to happen.