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Bill Hiatt I’m not a developer, but I am an avid user. I may well be in the minority on this, but I think that WordPress’s current issues are in part a product of trying to build too many features into the core. When I was teaching, I couldn’t help noticing how limited student options were when they used CMSs like Wix for projects. It was possible to do far more in WordPress, even though some of the more advanced features required page builders or other plugins. That was okay, though, because not every user needed that level of sophistication. For most blogging purposes, the classic editor was fine. People who needed more could easily find builder or plugins to add the features they wanted, many of them for free. Another thing I learned as a teacher was that everyone’s brains don’t work in the same way. One size does not fit all. That’s why having a basic CMS that could be expanded according to user needs and abilities made more sense than developing a whole new way of writing posts and then gradually trying to force it on everyone. Blocks may be a natural format for programmers, but they aren’t necessarily for writers. Gutenberg could have been offered as a plugin for those who wanted it. If the demand had been great enough, it could have been adopted as core–but as an option, rather than a replacement for the classic editor. As for full site editing, I see how it would be handy for developers, but the average user probably doesn’t need it. For most people, the plethora of themes available would have been more than enough. Many of those themes have more options for customization than most people will ever use. I can’t offhand think of a single thing I’d change using full site editing. One of the things I liked about WordPress was the flexibility it offered. That’s now being chipped away for no good reason. Everything people like about Gutenberg, for instance, could have been available as an option rather than a mandate.
Bill Hiatt
I’m not a developer, but I am an avid user. I may well be in the minority on this, but I think that WordPress’s current issues are in part a product of trying to build too many features into the core.
When I was teaching, I couldn’t help noticing how limited student options were when they used CMSs like Wix for projects. It was possible to do far more in WordPress, even though some of the more advanced features required page builders or other plugins. That was okay, though, because not every user needed that level of sophistication. For most blogging purposes, the classic editor was fine. People who needed more could easily find builder or plugins to add the features they wanted, many of them for free.
Another thing I learned as a teacher was that everyone’s brains don’t work in the same way. One size does not fit all. That’s why having a basic CMS that could be expanded according to user needs and abilities made more sense than developing a whole new way of writing posts and then gradually trying to force it on everyone. Blocks may be a natural format for programmers, but they aren’t necessarily for writers. Gutenberg could have been offered as a plugin for those who wanted it. If the demand had been great enough, it could have been adopted as core–but as an option, rather than a replacement for the classic editor.
As for full site editing, I see how it would be handy for developers, but the average user probably doesn’t need it. For most people, the plethora of themes available would have been more than enough. Many of those themes have more options for customization than most people will ever use. I can’t offhand think of a single thing I’d change using full site editing.
One of the things I liked about WordPress was the flexibility it offered. That’s now being chipped away for no good reason. Everything people like about Gutenberg, for instance, could have been available as an option rather than a mandate.
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