Old Editor

Making The Most Of Classic

~ beetleypete ~ 53 Comments

With my illness seemingly past its peak, reduced to an occasional cough and a feeling of exhaustion, I am back in the swing of blogging. Still able to use the Old Editor thanks to the numerous tips I received, I feel that my blogging mojo has been restored. Even allowing for some mildy irritating WordPress glitches going on, my current experience of blogging is identical to the one before it all fell apart with the imposition of the Block Editor.

So you can expect more posts in the days to come, and I will hopefully get back to adding more film reviews as well. If I carry on being allowed to still use the old system, fiction will make a comeback in the near future too.

For now, I am upbeat about blogging again, and not thinking about the old v new systems.

As long as the Classic option remains, I will be making the most of it in the time available.

No More Mister Blocky

~ beetleypete ~ 70 Comments

After all the posts, all the grief, the debates, headaches, and everything and anything to do with the cursed Block Editor, you will be pleased to know that I will no longer be posting about this scourge of the WordPress Blogger.

I have found what seem to be two effective ways to create posts still using the Old Editor, and very soon I will be back to normal blogging, without a Block in sight.

At least until the end of 2022, when they are supposedly stopping all access to anything but Mister Blocky.

The Dummy Is Back In The Pram

~ beetleypete ~ 62 Comments

(Translation for American readers. Dummy = Pacifier. Pram = Stroller. )

When a baby or small child has a temper tantrum here, we say “Oh he/she has thrown their dummy out of the pram”. That carries on into later life, whenever anyone has what some perceive to be an unreasonable outburst, or unexplained fit of annoyance.

As regular readers will know, the last few days have seen me rage at WordPress for forcing the Block Editor down my throat. This culminated in me leaving the world of blogging, with a sad farewell. Prompted by my unexpected departure, some members of our great community decided to send me the simplest of tips that my flu-confused and age-addled brain could actually cope with. I have already thanked them, in a previous post.

As a result, I am able to post this, and barring any sabotage by WordPress in the near future, I will soon be back to blogging in the old way, at least until the Classic option is no longer available after 2023.

So my dummy is back in my pram, and securely in my mouth.

For now.

Old Editor: Grateful For The Help And Tips

~ beetleypete ~ 107 Comments

After posting about my farewells from WordPress, I received two very easy tips that so far allow me to access the old editor.

Here they are, in case they help anyone else.

1) Enter this in your browser, substituting the name the name of your blog.
https://beetleypete.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?classic-editor

It will take you to the old-style editor where you can create a post.
Then bookmark that page for future use.

2) This was sent to me by Michel.
(Click on the photos for large print)
Go to the wordpress admin page and select all posts:

Once there, go the top of your screen and press the arrow next to add new and you will see that you get the option to access the classic editor:

Once you have selected the classic editor, it’s business as usual.

I hope these help somone else. If they carry on working for me, I will be back to blogging soon!

Block Editor Looming

~ beetleypete ~ 147 Comments

From the comments on my blog over the last few days, I have noticed that a large number of you have now been switched to the block editor by WordPress. Despite the provision of the so-called ‘Classic Block’ nobody seems to be very happy about having to use the new system. One blogger has already told me via email that she intends to stop blogging now, as she cannot be bothered with the learning curve necessary to continue.

I fear this may be the case with many others, in the weeks to come. I also have concerns that this will not be the last of the changes that WordPress intends to force upon us bloggers in their quest to satisfy their Business and Professional customers.

You will all remember my complaints to WordPress, and the issues I have had with them concerning critical blog posts I published. What you may not know is that I am not alone. Hundreds of other bloggers have been contacting WordPress over the past year, complaining that they want to retain the option of the old editor without having to pay for a plan that allows ‘Plug-ins’. For their part, WordPress continues to assert that the new block editor is ‘easier’ to use, and they have no intention of changing their mind about its forced introduction, obviously.

The plain truth is that WordPress could not care less about hobby bloggers, and those who blog occasionally for relaxtion, or to get their thoughts or writing down online. As far as they are concerned, we are old news, and have had our day. If we leave in the tens of thousands, they will not give a shit, believe me. This is mainly because they currently operate in excess of 40,000,000 blogs through their platform. So even if ten million of us abandoned the dictatorial WordPress, they could still make plenty of money with the remaining thirty million.

So far, I have escaped the mighty shadow of the Block Editor. But this morning while trying to edit my latest post, I received a worrying error message on the screen.
“You can no longer edit in this format”.
I ignored that and carried on, and it went away. But it is a warning of what lurks around the corner, I feel that.

At least I got to finish my serial.

Bad News From WordPress

~ beetleypete ~ 178 Comments

In case you haven’t seen the notifications, WordPress will shortly be doing away with the ‘Old Editor’, and forcing us to use the ‘New’ Block Editor. This supposedly improved Gutenberg editor will replace even the original block editor, so everyone on this platform will have to bite the bullet and try to cope with it.

I have written before about how I consider it TOTALLY UNNECESSARY for WordPress to do this. People who are not good with technology -like me- are dreading this all over the blogging community. As with so many things in the modern world, WordPress is choosing to ignore the ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ commonsense maxim, and I have yet to read any reasonable excuse as to why they consider the change is worthwhile.

If ‘business users’ find the new system better, then let it just be an option for them. That should be easy enough for WP to arrange.

Paying to blog won’t help. I pay for a plan, but that will still not allow me to keep my cherished ‘Original Editor’. Many current bloggers struggle to get the best out of the basic system, and they will now be forced to try to adapt to a change that seemes to me to offer no discernible improvement for the average blogger.

June the first is the big day, so brace yourselves!

I am very serious about this, and worried that I may get so frustrated with trying to cope, I might have to give up my one real joy in life, blogging.

If any of you very tech-savvy bloggers have an ‘idiots guide’ to the new system, or even screenshot tutorials, I for one would be grateful to see them.

**UPDATE** Video guide from Fraggle, via this link.

https://fragglesotherplace.com/2020/05/22/the-new-editor-for-wp/

Another short fast track guide from Ron in Alabama.

Quick and Dirty (New WP Editor)

 

Otherwise, I might be saying a sad ‘Farewell’ to you all, on June 1st.

If that happens, it’s been fun, and I send you all my best wishes.