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I hate the new WordPress Editor. So here’s what I do.
I don’t know about you, but when WordPress came out with its new Gutenberg Editor, at first, I was pretty enthusiastic. However, I then grew very tired of all the clunkiness.
Actually, I’ve never understood Page Builders and Block Editors to begin with. They just seem to add a bunch of clunky features to an otherwise pretty simple publishing process.
I mean the finished results might look good once it’s published, but at what cost? How much time and effort is spent fiddling around with these page builders and block Editors.
I understand that Gutenberg has come a long way. But, I still refuse to use it. You know what they say, “once bitten, twice shy“.
So this is what I do instead. I’ve gone back to the TinyMCE Classic WordPress Editor. However, with a twist. I keep all of my posts in Google Docs. I love Google Docs. It gives me one place to keep all my current and past posts.
Google Docs also has a great app that you can put on your cell phone and work on any posts you have in Google Docs from the convenience of your cell phone.
However, the real beauty of Google Docs is in its dictation feature. Dictation is a tricky thing for most people. You have to get used to saying punctuations, you also need to be clear and articulate during your dictations.
It’s not easy for those who don’t speak English as a native language or if they have some kind of speech impediment, regional accent or even a tendency to mumble.
But for me, as a former ESL teacher, my voice, accent as well as my ability to articulate myself has made dictation my “go-to hack” for cranking out the content for my blogs.
But wait, what does Google Docs and WordPress as well as hating the new WordPress Editor have in common?
Well, I simply use this app called Wordable.io. I can literally download directly from Google Docs into my WordPress Editor and publish. In fact, even if you do like Gutenberg’s Editor you can also use Wordable.io.
In this post I’m going to go over some frequently asked questions regarding WordPress’s New Editor as well as why not only I hate the new WordPress Editor, but why many others also hate the new WordPress Editor as well.
Hopefully, by the end of this post, you may consider my personal favorite option of combining Google Docs with wordable.io along with going back to the WordPress Classic Editor for publishing your posts on your WordPress blog or website.
What is Gutenberg Editor in WordPress?
The Gutenberg Editor in WordPress is basically WordPress’s attempt at building its own page builder. You’ve heard of these page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder, haven’t you?
The Gutenberg Editor in WordPress basically looks to replace many of these page building plugins, but make them native and built into your WordPress website by default.
This doesn’t mean that page builders like Elementor and Beaver Builder will be going out of business tomorrow.
However, many of those page builder’s functions can now be found in the Gutenberg Editor. But, Elementor and Beaver builder also have many additional page building functions that Gutenberg has not been able to replicate or improve upon.
Therefore, if you like working with Page Builders, you should still have a look at Elementor and Beaver Builder.
WordPress Classic Editor vs Gutenberg, my experience.
I was a very enthusiastic adopter when WordPress first came out with Gutenberg. I like to think of myself as very progressive, especially in technology, as it improves and evolves. I like to think of myself as open to change when it comes.
However, I was very turned off by the new WordPress block Editor Gutenberg from the very start. I found its interface very clunky and it seemed like it took me longer to format a post than it did to write it.
Many of the functions the Gutenberg Editor has I was able to do with the Classic WordPress Editor anyway.
The additional Gutenberg features and it’s blocks I really didn’t care for or care to use. I mean, who needs a fancy “quotations” block?
At the end of the day, people read blogs for information.
Of course, how that information is presented can be important, for example, you may want to add a few images, a table, some bullet points, some basic formatting in general, but that’s about it.
However, the written word, in the end, is still the written word. If I want flash and pizzazz as part of my content, I would watch a video.
So I went back to the Classic WordPress Editor and have since refined my publishing process by incorporating Google Docs along with wordable.io.
These two changes along with the Classic WordPress Editor have transformed my publishing on WordPress into a content publishing machine.
What happened to the WordPress Classic Editor?
The Classic WordPress Editor is still alive and well, thank God. You can now get it as a plugin. In fact, it is so popular that the new WordPress block Editor Gutenberg even has a Classic WordPress Editor block built within it.
However, if you’re like me and you hate the new WordPress Editor Gutenberg and want nothing to do with it, then you can disable the Gutenberg Editor and activate the WordPress Classic Editor plugin, otherwise known as the TinyMCE Editor.
In fact, I would highly recommend you not only download the Classic WordPress Editor but get the Advanced Classic WordPress Editor plugin, since it gives you many more options right in that beautiful Classic WordPress Editor toolbar.
Did WordPress keep the Classic Editor?
WordPress did not keep the Classic Editor as the default WordPress Editor. It instead exchanged it for the Gutenberg Editor. Gutenberg is now the default Editor in WordPress.
Therefore, in order to get out of the Gutenberg Editor as your default Editor you would need to go back to the Classic WordPress Editor. But how? Where do I find it?
Where is the Classic Editor in WordPress?
Fortunately, WordPress realizes that many, an overwhelming amount of their users loved the Classic WordPress Editor and did not want to switch.
Many, including myself, even gave Gutenberg a shot and were highly disappointed.
So they kept the Classic WordPress Editor, but instead made it into a plugin.
In fact, the Classic WordPress Editor formerly known as the “TinyMCE Editor” is one of the most popular WordPress plugins in WordPress.
Actually, I personally not only use the tiny MCE or Classic WordPress Editor, but I use the “Advanced” version of it, which gives you quite a few more editing tools right in it’s beautifully simplistic toolbar.
It gives me just enough tools to publish what I want to publish and how I want to publish it without making my life all complicated with clunky blocks I have to move around.
How do I switch back to the Classic WordPress Editor?
To switch back to the Classic WordPress Editor, simply upload the Classic WordPress Editor plugin and activate it. By doing this you will, by default, deactivate the new WordPress Gutenberg Editor.
I hate the new WordPress Editor. My conclusions.
Yes, I hate the new WordPress Editor Gutenberg. There, I said it! As a loyal WordPress user and “fanboy”, I seem to love everything about WordPress, except Gutenberg.
No one can doubt my loyalty to WordPress, it’s ecosystem and the open source movement as a whole. I am an ardent supporter of all of them. Heck, I even created a whole website dedicated to WordPress!
However, no system is perfect. And sometimes tough love is required when it is applied to those you love the most. WordPress, I do love you, but I hate the new WordPress Gutenberg block Editor with a passion.
If you feel the same way as I do as a WordPress user, then try my suggestion of going back to the Classic WordPress Editor, combining it with Google Docs and wordable.io.
I know that change has done wonders for my WordPress marriage. Maybe it will do the same for your relationship with WordPress as well.
