Updating a Wordpress site this weekend felt like a chore. I really wanted to enjoy it, but the writing interface, with its content blocks, seemed to block the flow. Why is it like this? Feels like the priority is machine convenience, not the human experience. Opinions, anyone?

@gr36 Thanks - that makes sense. I'll have a think about writing apps.

@writingslowly Content blocks are designed to make a CMS more friendly to non-technical users. Unfortunately, that translates to less convenient for more technically-inclined users. Content blocks drove me off Wordpress, and later, Ghost (which I kickstarted).

@gebloom Thanks - it feels like being nagged to make more design decisions than I want to, but the decisions I'm offered don't seem very consequential. The problem may not be the content blocks in themselves, but the way the interface foregrounds them, keeps reminding the users they're not writing, they're creating content. In blocks.

@writingslowly I do my writing outside of wp and use a classic editor plugin. The blocks are incredibly distracting. Good if you want to “build a piece of content” which is clearly the focus for wp at this point. Bad for writing.

@gebloom @writingslowly What bothered me most was when Ghost—instead of focusing on being a clean, open, lightweight WP alternative—started the push to monetize everything. When I tried it out long ago that wasn’t the case; it was sticking to its original mission and ethos. I didn’t even recognize the platform when I recently visited the website.

@pimoore I agree with you. Blogging for the joy of blogging is fading. Micro.blog is an exception.

@writingslowly You may want to check out the Classic Editor plugin...

https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/

@Annie Thanks, I’ll try reverting to the old editor. That might relieve some of my pain!

@pimoore looks like their pricing tiers are based on staff numbers, so yes, clearly looking to attract media businesses.

@jenett thanks for the link - I’ll try this, although it feels a bit like progress has stalled! Maybe it’s just my idea of progress that’s old fashioned now…

@writingslowly Yer welcome - I should have mentioned you can add the plugin directly in Wordpress....

@writingslowly Gutenberg interface for content blocks in WordPress is a step backwards, as it forces users into an arbitrary abstract workflow. Worse it was concocted primarily by WordPress.COM not WordPress.ORG to please the CEO of the commercial side driving away some Open Source contributors.

@Skarjune thanks - I'll see what Elementor has to offer, but I'm not holding my breath! I don't really want an alternative to blocks - just want the interface to stop nagging me about blocks. Getting clearer about my problem as I type: it's the horrible merging of content-creation and styling in apps like Wordpress and Microsoft Word. I think I've been spoiled by the conceptual firewall between html (or markdown) and css!

@Skarjune yes, that feeling of being forced into their workflow is what I find uncomfortable

@writingslowly A small data point, we implemented Elementor on a non-profit website we run and then hated it so much we removed it -- and found that this was not easy to do.

@writingslowly Elementor is a comprehensive wraparound plugin, but more than writers need—still a nice balance for designers and writers to work together. For a theme, GeneratePress is a good general template system, not relying on blocks. Both have free and premium versions.

@agilelisa None of the many WordPress page builders are loved, most are despised....so what did you go with? Or switch to another CMS? Seems content managers have become content manglers in so many ways.

@agilelisa sounds troublesome. I guess there are downsides to the convenience and flexibility of WordPress plugins.

@pimoore Ghost has turned into a programming re-write of Wordpress, and they’re deservedly successful with that goal. But just as with WP, content blocks and de-emphasizing Markdown turned using it into a chore. Can’t blame them, though. They’re nice people and they’re making money. Ditto WP.

@gebloom Yeah this de-emphasizing of Markdown by both platforms seems like a shortsighted decision. It’s a brilliant and useful format for almost any writing on the web—poetry is an exception if special formatting is required. People should feel welcome to write in whatever format is best for them, not best for Wordpress or Ghost.