The Gutenberg plugin receives various reactions from new testers

WordPress 4.9.8 has was released as an automatic update last week, along with the “Try Gutenberg” notice. The purpose of the invitation is to get more users to try out the new editor and raise awareness. In the first 72 hours after the invitation was introduced to user dashboards, sites with Gutenberg installed topped 80, an increase of 000%. The plugin was downloaded over 300 times in the past week.

Gutenberg's comments are pouring in from a wave of new testers, most of whom are new to the new editor for the first time. Reactions varied widely on several social networks. The announcement on the official Facebook account of WordPress has attracted many comments of the drive-by style, including negative reactions, confusion and questions, with some positive comments between the two.

Blocks don't do it for me. Will the classic continue to be available at all times? If I want a visual block editor, I promise to install it on purpose.

I hope Gutenberg will be completely optional.

I only see a few users who have exited Gutenberg. The rest is to go as is. Why do the guys at WP always want to implement it in the kernel? Make it a plugin. Why not a whyiiiiiii plugin?

Users of Twitter who were trying Gutenberg for the first time were more enthusiastic about the potential of the new editor.

https://Twitter.com/alex_zamorano/status/1025752512593358848

https://Twitter.com/Ebun_Oluwole/status/1025827102401200128

While some testers report discreetly problems on GitHub , others wrote long missives in reviews of the plugin, asking WordPress not to force the new editor on users. Gutenberg ratings are currently at an average of 2,4 stars, slipping from the 2,7-star average recorded before version 4.9.8. Those with written reviews tend to have reactions on both ends of the spectrum.

At this point in the testing phase, reviews posted in the official directory paint a grim picture of WordPress, dragging its users into the Gutenberg era. However, there are many reasons why a tester might be motivated to write a negative review. Some may have ignored the advice not to use it in production, others are testing it with incompatible plugins, others may not want to change their workflow, and others may not like the interface. .

While new reviewers seem to have misunderstood the plugin, those who are more critical tend to be more motivated to write a review. Those who are pleasantly surprised by something that works for them tend not to comment publicly. Reviews can't tell the whole story, but they are important for watching out for comments that might help Gutenberg be successful. I wrote a review not because I found it interesting ... but because I find that a lot exaggerates with bad reviews.

https://twitter.com/andrew_roberts/status/1025452116024807424

"Trying Gutenberg" succeeds in attracting more testers and comments

WordPress 4.9.8's “Gutenprompt” does exactly what it was meant to do: bring up more testers. The invite has already managed to get quality feedback if you can sort out all the casual and angry one-liners.

Steven Peters opened a long review with the following observations on the bulkier and less intuitive aspects of Gutenberg's interface:

The interface is not consistent in its design. For example, to place a block of one paragraph, header, subtitle, bullet list and all other blocks, the user needs to click the + sign each time , which makes the writing process much more difficult, tedious and time consuming. Time: one click for each block instead of just writing. More clicks equals wasted time.

In a review entitled " Lots of potential but too early for the core Mark Wilkinson details several specific usability issues:

The interface I find confusing - I think it's because it's too minimal. I found it too easy to add a block by mistake and not know what the blocking was or why.

There is too much dependence on the hover effects, things come and go all the time. I'm also having trouble figuring out where the focus is on the screen as it just uses a faint gray border.

Several reviewers have been sincere about their distaste for the concept of putting the contents in blocks. The Gutenberg team has easily communicated its vision for the block-based editor, but that tends to speak more to developers.

"Why does every little thing have to be in a separate block?" ", AT required a review before describing several usability issues with current block behavior. “I think that's a characteristic that I really hate. I don't want 50 million tough little blocks on a page. I had entire blocks disappearing and a lot of times at first I was unsure of what exactly I was doing to make them disappear. It's bad. Part of the time was placing a block, like a picture block, and then removing the image ... the whole block was gone, which meant I had to go through the motions to add the block, then add to again a picture block, then add my picture again. Lame. "

Several reviewers commented that previously simple tasks were much more complicated in Gutenberg. Others said that after reading official responses to reviews, they felt leaving specific comments was a waste of time. The pre-recorded responses from the Gutenberg team left the impression that their comments had not been heard or valued.

My feeling when reading the responses from the WordPress developers is that they have no intention of shutting down or postponing Gutenberg, no matter what issue or bug is reported to them. - @lauritasita

I've read all of the reviews (and also the responses from Gutenberg enthusiasts) and it looks like it's not really a discussion. The question of what is missing in this editor is unnecessary if people just don't want such a feature in their installation. All you do is try to convince people that it will only take time to get used to modern technology. To me, that's bullshit. I like new features myself - if they are useful. - @ peg20

Based on the responses to the reviews, it is unclear to the testers whether the Gutenberg team is ready to make major changes to features that are not easy to use or interface to.

Classic Editor plug-in installations are on the rise as users prepare for WordPress 5.0

In the days following the release of WordPress 4.9.8, active installations of the plugin Classic Editor rose from 7 to 000, an increase of 60%. However, none of these isolated figures can tell the whole user story with the new editor.

En response to criticism On the Advanced WordPress Facebook group, Gary Pendergast, a Gutenberg contributor, said he doesn't see users installing the Classic Editor plugin as a negative reaction. “People making sure their site is WordPress 5.0 ready is absolutely a good thing,” Pendergast said. “For a lot of sites, that means staying true to their current workflows. "

Pendergast also said the increasing number of Classic Editor installations is a good indication that WordPress users are "proactively maintaining their sites, and a reasonable indication that they intend to move to WordPress 5.0."

“People have very strong feelings about this, and the 'fear of change' is absolutely a legitimate feeling: we need to provide the right tools to empower everyone who uses WordPress,” Pendergast said. “Some people will jump right into the new block-based world, some people will prefer to use the Classic Editor plug-in to keep their existing workflows. When WordPress 5.0 lands, neither of the two ways should be considered "correct" - they're both completely legitimate. " 

One of the main themes of both positive and negative reviews of the plugin is Gutenberg's desire to sign up for WordPress 5.0, instead of automatically activating it for all users.

Developers and agencies need to control this experience for their customers by installing Classic Editor ou Gutenberg Ramp for installations that may have compatibility issues. For millions of other WordPress users without their own developers or engineering teams, discovering Gutenberg automatically activated after updating to WordPress 5.0 will be a watershed moment. On the flip side, the gradual rollout of the new editor can significantly limit adoption and dampen the ecosystem's momentum to deliver Gutenberg-compatible products.

The development community, along with the thousands of WordPress users who now have the radar on Gutenberg, will watch how the team assesses the feedback from this new wave of testing. So far, only the most curious and motivated WordPress users have run Gutenberg. Full-scale testing is only just beginning and we don't yet see a full picture of how the new publisher will be received.

Ma first impression, after trying the first time a year ago, was that Gutenberg was the most exciting thing in WordPress for a long time. After reading hundreds of negative reviews, I still believe in the concept of the block, but I'm convinced that Gutenberg needs to provide a great writing experience in order to win people over.

WordPress has the potential to provide the best writing experience on the web, instead of relegating it to the myriad of dedicated writing apps that don't have publishing capabilities. An extremely well-designed editor for articles, in recognition of the platform's blogging roots, would promise that hooks users have voluntarily signed up for years of dealing with Gutenberg's flaws as it matures into a full-fledged site builder.