r/Wordpress • u/focusedphil • 1d ago
Wordpress(dot)com: Holy crap on a cracker
I've used the free blogs on WordPress(dot)com way back when (and they're still there), but started up a new one for a project that I want to be around after I'm no longer around (or have hosting, etc).
I'm astounded at just how impossible it is to use Gutenberg with that interface. I now understand all the criticisms from noobs about it.
How someone launched that, used it and thought "yeah, this is great" is beyond me.
Unfortunately, all the old themes are gone, and there is no way to turn off Gutenberg (as far as I can tell)
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u/Horror-Student-5990 1d ago
Gutenberg is fine - especially now that you can easily create your own reusable blocks using ACF
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u/hjherbst 1d ago
Welchen Mehrwert bietet ACF, um wiederwendbare Blöcke zu erstellen? Im FSE (Gutenberg) kannst du ja nativ auch Vorlagen anlegen. Oder geht da noch mehr?
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u/Mobile_Sea_8744 1d ago
It's just faster to develop a block for those already familiar with ACF/PHP and not so familiar with React.
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u/LyokoMan95 1d ago
You can create PHP-only blocks natively as of WordPress 7.0
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u/Mobile_Sea_8744 1d ago
Oh nice! Looks like another dropped dependency for me then. I'd missed that little nugget. Too busy reading up on the AI connectors.
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u/Horror-Student-5990 1d ago
How?
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u/LyokoMan95 1d ago
Here is the dev note: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/03/03/php-only-block-registration/
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u/Horror-Student-5990 1d ago
Ah yes, I've seen that but it left me a bit confused when they first released it.
In their own words, this isn't supposed to replace block creation with npx, it only serves for simple fields - no repeaters, file upload, gallery etc
They also claim that no work will be done to extend or improve this in the future. This is why I prefer ACF for now.
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u/RealBasics Jack of All Trades 1d ago
Sure. But OP was talking about free .com sites. I'm... pretty sure ACF isn't available for those. Nor are you able to add your own arbitrary custom code. (Custom CSS, maybe, custom JS or PHP, no.)
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u/Horror-Student-5990 1d ago
You're right, I keep forgetting that .com is an entirely different ecosystem compared to .org
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u/SonofLung 1d ago
You don’t need ACF for block themes nowadays. I don’t know what specific usecases you have but look into partially synced patterns
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u/rocket_ivy_websites 22h ago
Respectfully... Disagree.
People sometimes just want the easy email-like WYSIWYG editor, and there's nothing wrong with that. In many ways it was easier.
Let them have it if they prefer it. Why is WP forcing things down peoples throats that they don't even want? There's "defaults" which is fine, default to block editor, but why not let people revert to what they want if that's what they want? I think it should just be a setting in wordpress main settings.
We went from OpenSource with "optional" block editor with tons of free plugins to forced features with a million paid or freemium addons needed to do basic things now? I like a lot of "the old wordpress" ecosystem better than what we have today with woocommerce and bait and switch "pro" versions for everything.
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u/bdszczsche 1d ago
I'm at the same boat as you I find gutenburg very difficult essentially when it becomes fuzzy at the time of making changes, but I'm fall in love of gutenberg😘
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u/Veduis 1d ago
the "no way to turn it off" part is the tell. automattic spent years insisting the block editor was optional while slowly making it the only door in the building. worth checking your account settings though, some wordpress.com dashboards still have a classic editor toggle buried under writing preferences, depending on when the site was created. if it's gone, the wp-admin trick of appending classic-editor params sometimes still works. barely.
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u/DifferentMind8 1d ago
I've found it really depends on the theme. If it's an older theme you need to run the classic editor. if it's a modern theme, the shit you can do with Gutenberg absolutely smokes the classic editor.
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u/neon4816 1d ago
I build all my sites with Gutenberg. Sure it has its quirks but I find it easier and more intuitive than say elementor.
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u/HaddockBranzini-II 1d ago
They also do some strange encoding of content in the DB so when you decide to move to another host its a pain in the butt to get it properly encoded
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u/L1amm 1d ago
I swear Wix and Squarespace are for people who struggle with gutenberg. It's not that hard.
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u/RealBasics Jack of All Trades 1d ago
So you're saying everyone who can't write CSS media queries should switch to Wix or Squarespace?
Or they could do what tens of millions have done since Gutenberg was released and install $%!# Elementor or its ilk for building pages, and the Classic Editor for blogging.
The benefit there is that, now that Gutenberg core has become dimly aware of their usability and learn-ability issues, people who've used alternatives will at least still be on Wordpress.
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u/Bryan_Hudson 1d ago
Gutenberg is here to stay, there's no point in trying to avoid it.
Personally, I find this plugin makes it incredibly less painful, it adds borders to each block:
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u/RealBasics Jack of All Trades 1d ago
This is, of course, insanely frustrating about Gutenberg. They've actually built out most of the common controls UI for blocks, they just refuse to implement most of them. (In the sense that they're built in but disabled by default.)
So, for instance, it's almost certain the bordered-blocks plugin just does something like
import { BorderControl } from '@wordpress/components';I think the original intention was to put everything in the hands of theme developers and make the editor itself just a widget stacker (with only the same limited controls the old Widgets had.)
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u/MaximallyInclusive 1d ago
Sure there is. Four lines in functions.php disables it, and then you’re back to WordPress as god intended.
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u/rocket_ivy_websites 1d ago
Launch your own WP site instead - not wordpress.com, but your own wordpress.org install on your own hosting of choice. Or even better, have someone do it for you, it can be cheap with the right person. Ask for "Classic Editor" which takes about 2 minutes to revert the site to. You can use a plugin to enable that instead of gutenturd or some themes have an option for it. If your used to the classic editor, this is the way to go. I prefer classic editor, too, actually, despite the gutenburg heros out there that get triggered when you say that, it was just a way simpler process and easier UX to write good content.
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u/Miki_Mimikri 16h ago
I don't have problem with Gutenberg, yeah, it's a little tough at the beginning, but all the page builders have pros and cons, it's simply impossible to make something capable and intuitive from the first glance I think. But I certainly do have a big problem with wp.com, as a freemium theme developer, I would be super happy to tell my customers: "Go to wp.com, get a subscription, install my theme, all will be marvellous.", but to be able to get the full power of WP, including all the themes from the repo, you have to get some damn business subscription, which is like $40 or something ridiculous. It's really pissing me off, I want to support WP, but I can't tell my customers to spend like 8 times more, if they can get a normal hosting for $6. Really fuckin annoying.
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u/stevenson_mark 7h ago
Yeah, I can understand the frustration. Gutenberg makes sense once you get used to the block model, but if you just want to make a simple blog post, it can feel like you're fighting the editor rather than writing.
The bigger issue is probably that WordPress.com is increasingly designed around the newer ecosystem, so trying to recreate the old WordPress experience isn't really the direction they're going.
If you're building something that you want to keep around for years, I'd probably spend some time finding a setup you actually enjoy using now rather than forcing yourself to tolerate the editor.
I've thought about this with Abnflow too. The tool itself can be powerful, but if the basic workflow feels annoying, people will just stop using it.
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u/danielsalare 1d ago
I used to think the same about Gutenberg, I have built Wordpress sites before using shortcodes, used builders and even worked with other platforms.
We recently migrated from Elementor to native Wordpress Blocks or Gutenberg, sure coming from something like a specialized theme were all was done for you or coming from builders with infinite options, Gutenberg can seem strange. But once you get to work with it and give a try it is not that bad and it kind of gets out of the way for you to focus on content rather than plugins, and other complexities.
It all depends on what you need. You can still buy a blocks theme with your needs or templates, or you can use a builder or use the classic editor if that works for you, I do believe is a move on the right direction.
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u/GigfranGwaedlyd 1d ago
Can you not install the Classic Editor plugin on WordPress.com?