Gutenberg Editor

Dear Seniors, don’t give up on WordPress.

~ Ron Walker ~ 34 Comments

Someone once said, “Change, is inevitable”. I’m sorry change has come so late in our lives, but we can do this!

No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.

– Tony Robbins –

There are many great bloggers saying they are ready to just quit, mostly due to the Gutenberg Editor. We older folks don’t take to change very well. We are tired, or we are retired and just want to enjoy simple blogging. Yes, many of us were the startups when WordPress came along, but the world turns, things grow, and growing takes money. So the platform has gone from simple typing, to basically WYSIWYG web page building. It can still be your blogging platform. You don’t have to use all the fancy do-dads (is that even a word anymore?). Find your basic tools to type, arrange and continue to share your world.

“It’s just blocks”

I know, many will say I’m over simplifying it. Look at it as just a square that you have to use now. You type what you want, you hit enter, you have a new block/square for your next paragraph. You can still do quotes, lists and all the things most basic bloggers need. I’ve composed this using one special block for the “quote” I clicked the plus sign, selected “quote” and pasted my text. Not much different from the old way of clicking the quote icon on the toolbar.

No one wants to lose blogging friends from simply giving up. I don’t blog as much as many others do, but I do love the friendship and meeting new people. If there is one thing WordPress has, that is still great for us seniors, it’s the ease of interaction with the community of other bloggers. I still get frustrated, but I refuse to just give up on something that is enjoyable, even if I blog infrequently.

Maybe, some of us are tired of blogging. If that’s the case, just say so. There is no shame in getting tired of something, at least you’ll be remembered as a great blogger that retired, not someone that was beaten by change. I’m 68, some of you are older or younger than I. Sometimes I stumble into a wall on the way out of the office, that doesn’t mean I am just going to sit in my chair and never venture into the other rooms. I may forget why I ventured to the other rooms, but I am going to try. Perhaps one day, I will need to wrap the door frame with bubble wrap.

Let’s pull together and support one another. If there is anything I can do to help explain something that I have learned, let me know. I for one, don’t wish to lose bloggers to a challenge. That said, it’s time for me to stumble down the hall for a cup of hot beverage. I do love a good adventure in the morning.

#Seniors of WordPress 🙂

Comments, always appreciated.

Don’t fear the Block Editor.

~ Ron Walker ~ 36 Comments

Well, here we are. More and more speaking of the block editor just around the corner. They’re right, it will soon overtake us, and we just have to adapt. I’m not happy about it, but WordPress is ever expanding, and to do that it has to make money. Hobby and professional bloggers, made WordPress what it is today. That’s not what’s important in today’s business world. When you step up and get larger, you have to continue to step up. A vicious circle that oft-times consumes the memory of where you came from.

Most people use mobile devices

When asked why a block editor? The mantra of “Most people use mobile devices”. Tablets, smartphones, etc. While this may be (according to stats) true, it’s more like a politician deflecting the issue. Yes, the majority (statistically) use mobile devices. You can bet Grandma’s girdle, they don’t use smartphones to design sites. They could, but in this world of high production it’s too slow. WordPress has grown from its humble roots as a blogging platform, to a commercial business for products and services. Websites have to look good on tiny devices. Thus, the “block” editor. Stick your website components in a block, no worries about formatting bugs causing wonky pages. So the move all along, was for catering to commercialization of the platform. No real need for interaction on a human level. Just read, place your order, and done. Blogging is about sharing Websites are for displaying.

It won’t last forever.

You can take comfort in knowing it probably won’t last forever. It may last through our lifetime, but we can take comfort as old wise ones, that we have seen this type of change come and go. Over the last few years since Gutenberg was adopted, it’s been stumbling, changing, aggravating bloggers AND those who build websites for companies. Believe me, when a commercial site has a few customers questions wind up in the spam box, that could cost some venues thousands in sales. Right now, it’s a cheap alternative to paying for a hosting service, website developer/maintainer. Those who maintain these business sites, are going to start to charge more due to the constantly changing/problems of the interface.

Hang in there

Don’t give up. That is my Mantra back at them. I’m 68 this year, I made this post, simply by hitting the enter button for my next paragraph, just as I always have. The headers above some paragraphs took maybe an extra 3 clicks. Most of us don’t use a header, it’s just fluff.

We can do this, many bloggers are making videos and written tutorials on how to use the block editor on the simplest level. We can all band together, help on another and then laugh if a better platform for bloggers comes along.

Keep blogging friends!

Comments, always welcomed.

Gutenberg’s logic, escapes me.

~ Ron Walker ~ 21 Comments

How many of you are using the Gutenberg editor. I have been using it for a few months now. I have watched it with fascination. While it goes through iterations of changes, like food through a goose. Like many, I feel it was rushed out as the new editor, sometimes even unusable for some projects. It has matured more, but there are things that still leave me scratching my head. The mobile app for it was not even ready for prime time, when they released the editor to the masses.

How many of you are using it? Are you having trouble with figuring out how to do something? I have had a few things crop up

How to add a graphic to your post, and wrap the text around it, is not intuitive for new users.
Also, for some odd reason, and I admit I don’t know how long it has been changed, but to schedule a post for publishing later, has changed from a simple task, to one that makes no sense at all.
Before, you had a blue “edit” link next to the schedule label, this let you set when you wanted to publish your post. Now that is gone, and the only option you see is “immediately”.

I’m sorry. If I want to publish something tomorrow, at a certain time, Immediately is not the option I would comfortably click on. What in heavens name, was wrong with leaving the edit link. But I guess they thought it was less cluttered, and we could read their minds.

So now, you click immediately, even though your not wanting to publish it at the moment, and it brings up a window to set the date and time in the future. Is that logical?

Maybe it’s just me. The new editor is getting better, but still a long way to go. Oh, and while we are here. Anyone know how to change one word, or selected words to a different color? All I get it to do, is change ALL the text in the block to the color.

Comments welcome.

Intro to Gutenberg Editor for WordPress. Adding text and graphic together.

~ Ron Walker ~ 12 Comments

I apologize for the length, it’s much longer than I wanted. That is the beauty of the stop button. Watch what you desire, or slide through the video till you see something that interests you. I nearly put myself to sleep listening to it.

The second video, is for those looking for a way to have text and picture on the same block. Like the wrap-around we have in the present editor. I hope it helps someone that is playing with the Gutenberg beta for WordPress.

Intro

 

Adding text and graphic on same line/block.

Comments, or questions, welcome.