Changing things that already work

~ beetleypete

I have just been reading a post on another blog about the forthcoming ‘Gutenberg Editor’ change from WordPress. In case you are unaware of the impending change, here is a link to Worpress’s take on it. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

As you will see, it is quite technical, at least to someone with my level of computer knowledge. I like to keep things simple, one of the reasons I chose to blog on the WordPress platform, six years ago. I also notice that this new system is aimed at helping those bloggers who use a Tablet Computer, or Smartphone. I still use a PC tower set up with a ‘proper’ keyboard. For all the tech-savvy people out there, I suspect this will cause little or no upset. Those of you self-hosting a dot-com blog on this platform might welcome a change to make life easier too, if that is what actually happens.

But as I said, I like to keep things simple. I still use what is known as the ‘Old Editor’. When WP changed to the supposedly ‘Improved Editor’ some time ago, I chose not to leave the old system. So as you might imagine, I am far from looking forward to having the ‘Gutenberg Editor’ imposed on me.

All through my life, I have been constantly frustrated by unnecessary change. The old saying ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ works very well for me. Not all of us can adapt to upgraded computer systems easily, and some of us (including me) struggle to get the best out of the current manifestation of WordPress, let alone one more technical.
Anyone else remember ‘Windows XP’? That was a great operating system, and I still have no idea why it had to change. Oh, actually I do. To make us spend money on the ‘new and improved’ one.

Planned obsolescence is the spectre of modern life. It won’t be long before the CD and DVD disappear, PC towers become obsolete, and if you are not doing everything ‘hand-held’, you are yesterday’s news.

If have a suggestion for WP, and all other such companies. If you want to make changes, sell ‘advances’, and foist unwanted ‘improvements’ on us, that’s fine. Just leave the original system in place, for those of us who just about cope with using it, and will possibly be forced out of blogging by changes we cannot get our heads around.

73 thoughts on “Changing things that already work”

  1. Pingback: I want the Classic Editor, not this block garbage. | Lucky Otters Haven
  2. Pingback: Changing things that already work — beetleypete (reblog) | Lucky Otters Haven

  9. I preferred Windows 98 Pete, it’s the only version that I could ever use the mail merge function on (used to be important in the old days when we would actually send letters in the post). When I first started work computers had been introduced relatively recently and lots of staff refused to use them. They called them “the box” and I remember having to print everything hard copy and send it round in a “float” folder because no-one understood email. We sent memo’s out for important messages and faxed everything to HQ for “security reasons”. This makes me feel ancient but I’m only 35!

    This new editor sounds like it will just take up more space on my devices which are all severely limited. I’m not looking forward to it!

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  11. Well written Pete! I fully consent. You will not believe, but i always have one old machine with WinXP, and till today most of the ATMs are working with WinXP in the background. Since I learned about it, I know why our government is so afraid of hackers.
    ***lol*** Michael

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  12. Pete, CDs and DVDs, along with PC towers barely exist in the US – virtually everything is “virtual” – you stream your music and movies and store everything that doesn’t fit on your computer on a cloud…oh, what happens when the power goes out? A lot of panicked people!

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      1. There will be specialty distributors like Vinegar Syndrome, who I try to support because they are focused on remastered cult films with bonus material – but I don’t know a single younger person who “buys” traditional media at all!

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          1. Then you won’t be annoyed by some of them as I am – they reject newspapers, printed word in all ways, use their phones to do everything for them so they don’t even bother to learn – very little curiosity, always locked to their social media through their devices…

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          2. I only know my step-children, and the youngest is 29. They spend their lives on phones and tablets, never read books, and repeat everything they see as ‘gospel’ on social media. That said, one of my step-daughters has just gone to university, as a mature student., And she is on her own, with a 4 year-old son. So well done to her, at least. 🙂
            Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. I’ve been ignoring their pleas to try out the test version of Gutenberg editor and wondering when it will be rolled out. I’m not looking forward to it either. Like you I’m still using the old editor. Oh well. We’ll figure it out eventually!

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      1. Hey, I just read on another site that when it’s rolled out you will still have the option to use the ‘Classic Editor’ by a simple selection. I guess the question for those of us using the older editor already, which classic version are they talking about?

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  17. Slow and steady Pete, you’ll get your head around it. We seniors seem (or I do/did) to think it is terribly complicated. I deprived myself of fun computing for about three or four years, because I thought another OS was complicated.
    Don’t get me wrong, I hate they changed the editor, because I hate forced changes. All of these platforms are catering to businesses that want flashy “sites”. Forums and blogs are both taking on a commercial appearance.
    The layout and new tools/options will be different, but some won’t ever be needed by us “bloggers”. Your post, would use one simple block. WordPress makes it sound so much more complex. I’ll try to help where I can, as others have offered. I suck at video making, but I would like to try to make some regarding the editor.
    Maybe someone will offer a permanent plugin of the classic editor.

    Remember, they make it sound complex, a stupid selling point thought up by nerds. Ignore the eye-candy and just wade into it.

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    1. Thanks for those reassuring words, Ron. They are appreciated. I will just have to wait and see, when it arrives. I felt much the same about using Windows 7 at first, and have not changed to Windows 10, for the same reasons. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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    1. I am sure it will be second nature to most people under 60, Gilly. But I am working at my extreme limit of understanding already, when it comes to using computers. I am not asking for the world, just for a relatively simple blogging platform to continue on WordPress. In the old days, I would have probably been out protesting with the Luddites 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  19. You and I were twins separated at birth, Pete! I still use the PC, mouse and all. I’m still on the old Editor page and posts are done as they were in 2012 when I started blogging. I’ve been on the laptops and tablets and it takes me twice as long to anything! For me that’s not progress.
    All the best to you!

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  20. I’m not disagreeing – I had the same problems with PayPal when they changed their screens and it became impossible to make adjustments to credit card info etc. It was so badly thought out, they issued everyone a link to the old interface while they sorted it out. On the other hand, when I worked in a Univesity library and they changed the library system interface from a DOS-based system to a Windows one, all the old lags hated it. For one thing you had to remove one hand from the keyboard to pick up a mouse for things you could formerly type in a command for. the new staff al picked it up much quicker though. I think part of the resistance was that loss of hard-learned expertise in favour of a system almost anyone could learn quickly.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts, Cathy. I got my first laptop in 2002, and had to be shown how to use it, by a friend. Since then, my mastery of computing has never really developed past that. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  21. I still prefer the old one too Pete and like you, I use my PC when blogging. It is easier to navigate and make some search if you need to. I use my tab for reading e-books and my CP for calls and texts. That simple.

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  22. I agree with you Pete. I have zero to no computer technical expertise. I was not aware of this change until reading it here. I am fine with how things are right now and also use pictures in my posts, so…I hope I can figure it all out. But, who knows maybe it won’t be too bad. On the other hand: I just think things are working fine right now, so why change at all…sigh 😢

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  23. I have been using the Gutenberg editor on my ‘other place’ blog and it really isn’t hard to use. You don’t actually have to do anything if you are writing text. Just keep writing and everything happens automatically. It’s only if you are adding other content like pictures and links to other sites etc that you have to think about it, so on the whole I think you’ll be fine with it Pete.
    I too never liked the ‘improved editor’ and stuck with the old one. I am however keeping the old one on my Universe blog as I like to link my part 1’s part 2’s and the Gutenberg editors ‘link’ bit doesn’t let you choose from your previous posts, which is annoying.

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    1. Hmm. I already don’t like the sound of issues with links, or old posts. I am an old stick in the mud I know, but I have genuine issues with technical things, and often cannot get my head around them, even when they seem obvious to everyone else.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  24. AS an old fart agree 100%…….WP seems to forget that they owe their everything to oldfarts in the beginning…..they are ignroing us for the techies of today…..we made them rich….time to remember that chuq

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  25. It is annoying, true. But then again, it keeps the old noggin active. 🙂
    I noticed it does say, in small print, that the classic version will be available as a plugin.
    I’m one of those who use the tablet app and it’s not that great an app, to be fair. I’m often having to switch to “desktop” dashboard. Not an ideal way to operate.

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    1. Thanks, BF. As I understand it, you have to upgrade to a paid plan, to get the ‘plugin’. No surprise there. As I said, PC users are considered to be ‘old hat’. My wife has three Samsung tablet computers, and I detest using them. I can’t stand the over-sensitivity of the screen, and the flat ‘keyboard’.
      I might just have to put myself out to grass, I suspect. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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