Long Live the Classic Editor
When logging into a WordPress blog, the user is first shown the Dashboard, which usually includes links to posts about WordPress. This morning, most of those posts had to do with the announcement that support for the Classic Editor plugin has been extended to 2022, and possibly beyond. In 2018, when WordPress came out with version 5.0, they included a new editor for creating posts. It was known as the Block Editor and it was widely criticized. To placate users, they quickly came out with the Classic Editor plugin, which returned functionality of the original editor. The Block Editor was here to stay, but the Classic Editor was available for those who wanted it.
I’ve tried using the Block Editor a few times and am frustrated by it every time. The recent announcement should make me feel reassured, but I have a feeling the Classic Editor’s days are numbered. WordPress seems to be all in on the Block Editor, and I don’t think support for the Classic Editor is sustainable in the long term. Some plugins will only work with new editor and not the original. Going forward, I see this as a problem that will only get worse. At some point, WordPress will stop supporting the Classic Editor.
WordPress.org will hope this causes people to suck it up and start using the Block Editor. For longtime WP users like me, that’s an unattractive option. It’s very likely that there will be several other “Classic Editor” plugins available, but none will be officially supported by the WordPress team, and their functionality will be limited because the architecture of WP is built around the Block Editor.
Rather than use the Block Editor or an unsupported plugin, I have a feeling ClassicPress may be in my future.
Photo by Markus Winkler from Pexels
When logging into a WordPress blog, the user is first shown the Dashboard, which usually includes links to posts about WordPress. This morning, most of those posts had to do with the announcement that support for the Classic Editor plugin has been extended to 2022, and possibly beyond. In 2018, when WordPress came out with…