I went to take a look at the brand spanking new format for WordPress.
WARNING: If you do that, you will NOT be able to go back to your old format. I think what they have done is eliminate all the old versions of the editor we used, so you can use the new one, or hope they don’t delete the old ones entirely and leave you with this mess.
Which is what I think is really going to happen.
Now, there are things about the “new new new new editor” that may — eventually, when they get the bugs fixed — be useful. But right now? You can’t even get a set of standard editing functions across the top of your page.
They also (apparently, unless it’s a bug) have a limited number of categories — AND they no longer offer you the option of picking up an old post so you can rewrite it.
I’ve got nearly 8,000 posts, so yes, I go back and rewrite material. After you’ve been doing this for a long time, why not?
In this new format, I opened categories and it dies after the letter “C.” What happened to “D” through “Z”? You can’t even find the missing pieces by typing the category name in the search list. Nothing comes up. This will effectively lose thousands of posts and pictures.
I went through and deleted all the one I used very rarely. That got me all the way to “D.” When I eventually found my way back to the “classic editor,” all the deletes were not made.
NOTHING IN THAT SOFTWARE IS WORKING. NO ONE BETA TESTED IT. NO ONE.
I don’t object to change. I object to untested changes and buggy software. I pay to use WordPress. I object to being forced to do stuff the way they decree. If this is such a great interface (it might be POTENTIALLY, but it definitely isn’t there yet), then people will use it. You don’t have to club us over the head.
Also, they are no longer offering help to anyone but business users … so they’ve forced me to use this very buggy interface and there’s no one to talk to. Maybe this will finally push me over the edge.
You know that whole thing about this being a free country? Well … this kind reminds me that anyone who doesn’t follow orders is not free. What is wrong with having more than one interface? How does it hurt anyone?
A thing that happens as we age is we lose contact with pop culture. We retire. We don’t feel impelled to learn to do it differently unless there’s a really good reason to do it. Unless you’re paying me to do it your way, try not to get too bent out of shape if I prefer to do it my way. It may be different, but that doesn’t make it wrong.
We are happy with the way we do things. They are comfortable and trust me, retirement and comfortable go together like guitar and bass. It starts early, as early as ones 30s when you realize you don’t like the music. By your 40s, you don’t care who knows it and by fifty, you drop any pretense of caring any of “the latest things.”
It doesn’t mean that nothing new makes the cut, but I’ve been a writer my whole life and any product that requires me to access multiple pages to accomplish the same task that previously could be done on a single page is NOT an improvement. This is poorly designed software.
That’s right: it’s BAD SOFTWARE.
That’s not how the pros do it, kids.
I was one of them.
I’ve been reading about this upcoming new interface for a while. I really had my fingers crossed that just this once, WordPress would have the grace to fully test it and make sure it worked. It is not an UPGRADE if it’s harder to use than the old one — especially if the task is identical.
Drop down lists for everything? Dumping most of my categories? Completely changing how media is handled without so much as an introduction? Discovering that we no longer have access to help?
So, they did it again, but this is the worst yet. I’m wondering if it’s worth it. WordPress doesn’t want writers and photographers. They want business accounts.
I’m not a business. I am not selling anything. I’m trying to just enjoy life.
This isn’t going to be fun. It’s going to be a major league headache. They’ve been cutting down on what they offer “premium” users for years and at this point, nothing seems to be what they are offering. Platform, templates, and good luck. What they are clearly saying is simple.
WORDPRESS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT USERS.
You know how Sears is going out of business? Well … guess what? I’m pretty sure driving away all the people who do creative stuff which brings in new people is not going to help WordPress get richer (they are already making plenty of money) than they already are. But not to worry.
There’s always bankruptcy.
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Categories: #Blogging, #Writing, Publishing, Software, Technology, WordPress
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Many thanks for the warning of NOT to look at the new editor. I actually use a free app to write all my posts off line – Open Live Writer. It was originally a Microsoft app. Anyway it allows you to download your theme’s architecture and then you can work off line, but on a page that looks pretty much like the finished product. You can publish directly, or send a draft to your blog. I think you can schedule from there too, though I haven’t tried it. I usually send a draft to my blog, and tweak using the old original editor which I seem to get to from the WP Admin button.
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I really should check that out. Because the new version is overkill and the old one is underkill. I need something with some flexibility, but no long learning curve!
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🙂 I don’t take on things that involve learning curves, so I think it’s pretty self-explanatory in its functions. eg You change font and font size, alter photo size and add copyright, save drafts, add tags and categories. If you change your theme it’s easy to update. The only bit that I’ve found slippery is if want to make a feature of an indented quotation. I’ve found that can make the whole thing freeze, so I usually only do that bit in WP editor. Oh yes and cropping photos can make them go a bit weird dimensionally speaking, so I do all that first in my photo editor.
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This may sound off the wall and will definitely expose me as technologically under-educated, but can you tell me how to save or back-up all my posts. I’m such a novice writer and photographer that all my attempts are really important to me still.
If you can tell me and it would be better for an email, let me know.
Thanks. I’m glad I could even figure out HOW to do the silly “upgrade”.
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On your Dashboard page, on the left, find “Tools.” Find Export and click the top (Export) selection. If you have a normal size site, you’ll get a download of the contents of your site. If you are huge, as I am, you’ll have to contact WordPress and they will manage it for you.
I just did it and it worked — for the first time in years — perfectly. I then took the download and put it in my downloads file. Next thing, I’m going to put it on an external hard drive. If something nasty happens to this site, I have my contents saved. It’s just ONE click and they send the contents to your email.
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It takes getting used to but I don’t see it as an improvement. I find it cumbersome and with little hands on direction.
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It IS cumbersome. It might make sense if you were designing a book, but it’s silly for a blog. Overkill. Anyway, complain and they’ll give you back the classic format.
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😉
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wow,t hat sounds bad. I don’t think I’ll “upgrade” to the new editor. But then I don’t tend to be a forerunner. I like using something a year after it comes out — gives them time to work out the bugs. (which is why it bugs me that they’ve made my computer do automatic updates — why? if soemthing works, I don’t wnat to change it until it stops working)
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I originally started reading your blog because you posted a way to avoid the horrid new “beep boop” editor in 2014. I’ve been using the classic editor ever since and resolutely resisting every change they’ve tried to force on me. This is awful. Fortunately I was already planning to migrate my site to a WordPress dot org site on a paid server…not sure if I’ll be able to avoid their fulsome tinkering there, but I hope so. Thanks for sounding the alarm yet again.
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The rules are very different on their .org site. It’s more work to run it, but you can use any format you want, including some that don’t come from WordPress. They did send me back to “classic”, but I had to beg them to do it. Apparently now, you can’t use the plugin unless you have a business plan. I don’t have a business and don’t plan on one. AND we live on social security, so $100 a year for premium, I manage … but $25/month? I can’t do that.
But they fixed me. So if you stay with the Classic Editor, they plan to keep it around as the alternative editor since apparently big blogs like this one don’t take kindly to massive format shifts. And it’s FULL of bugs, most of which affect people who have been blogging for a long time. The baby bloggers will be fine, but me, maybe you and all the other “old time bloggers” are going to be crushed.
I believe they are now planning to give everyone a choice of Gutenberg or Classic. Meanwhile, their list of forum complaints is HUGE.
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