Why is the WordPress Gutenberg Editor still constipated?

For credibility purposes, I started this post in the Block editor, but I’m having regrets. Not only is the text appearing a minimum of ten seconds after I type — I’m having to stop trying after I backspace, to avoid further typos — but as I was typing the title, the text cursor decided to drop down and let me finish in a text block.

I tried backspacing at the time, but it went back to the title heading. Genuinely concerned.

Definitely having lots of regrets.

How did I get here?

The one benefit I’ve found the Gutenberg Editor has is the ability to get certain image/text displays that you never could properly accomplish in the Classic Editor. Galleries look good-ish even if your theme doesn’t cater to them by default! It’s awesome! No plugin necessary!

But the Block editor is definitely still shit. I can’t even see what I’m typing, and I’m two sentences ahead. Or is it three by now? Literally. I have no idea.


That’s enough of that.

But wait! Why is it even more constipated when you switch to HTML or back to the Classic Editor?

<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>For credibility purposes, I started this post in the Block editor, but I'm having regrets. Not only is the text appearing a minimum of ten seconds after I type -- I'm having to stop trying after I backspace, to avoid further typos -- but as I was typing the title, the text cursor decided to drop down and let me finish in a text block.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:image {"id":25493,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} -->
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img class="wp-image-25493" src="[image]" alt="">
<figcaption>I tried backspacing at the time, but it went back to the title heading. Genuinely concerned.</figcaption>
</figure>
<!-- /wp:image -->

?? Is all of that even necessary?

Despite the Gutenberg Editor being the default WordPress editor for over three years now — the supposed crème de la crème, Matt Mullenweg’s ableist cream-of-the-crop feature to dominate Squarespace competition — it is still but a human with irritable bowel syndrome sitting on a toilet and releasing the inefficient bare minimum.

Not even Fiber One Bars can help.

Love this post?

Support me by subscribing to my blog and/or buying me a cuppa:

Leave a comment

Comments on this post

Project Gutenberg wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t the *default*. 🙁

I recently reinstalled my blog and I’m already stressing over Gutenberg. Even after I “disabled it” and switched to classic, it still has links for block editing on every post and sometimes when saving, the post gets converted back to blocks.

The one time I did try to edit with Gutenberg to try out a feature (hidden text), it lagged so badly and I couldn’t even find the feature, despite reading multiple tutorial posts online about how to set it up. It is just so poorly optimized I can’t wrap my head around it.

Reply to this »

??? That’s so weird. Do you use the Classic Editor plugin? The one I use doesn’t revert back, regardless of anything.

The lag is so bad! Gutenberg relies on JavaScript, though, so a lot gets loaded and continues to load as you’re using it. From what I’ve gathered, Medium and Squarespace editors also rely on JavaScript — and I’ve used both editors on great computers and high-speed internet, but still experienced the same issues that are the reasons I stick with WordPress.

When Gutenberg first came out, I read that “accessibility will come later”, but it doesn’t look like they’ve done much to fully improve accessibility for a completely accessible editor. It should definitely not be the default.

Reply to this »