The new version of WordPress 5.0 “Bebo” brings some major upgrades to the editor. There is a new block-based editor that promises to streamline editing experience across the website.
This feature was revealed in 2017, and until now it has been developed and tested as a plugin, but now it has been included into WordPress core. That means that the classic editor that everyone using WordPress used from the start will be replaced by default.
Naturally this change has arisen controversy among WordPress casual users, but also plugin and theme developers. We will go and explore some of the pros and cons of the new changes to the WordPress ecosystem.
Pros
The update represents a much-needed innovation to keep up with other website builders that are on the market.
The new editor aims to provide a great user experience especially for noncoders (including clients), that is fast and easy to learn. “Writing first” approach, beginner friendliness and ability to style every element from inside the editor are definitely Pros.
The goal is to get closer to a true WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) experience and less need for editing HTML and adding custom code, to achieve the design the user is looking for.
This is offered as an alternative to bloated page builders and has the goal to unify page editing options in one place without being locked into custom shortcodes.
Cons
The biggest down side of this update is the lack of backward compatibility, and the requirement for many plugin and theme developers to release updates for their code to find a workaround or fix for the issues that come up.
Many are afraid it will ruin existing (client) sites, especially those that rely heavily on custom fields and meta boxes.
Blocks appear difficult to use for creating high volume of content.
Many users criticize the UI and the way you edit HTML with the new editor.
The markup created by the editor’s blocks is not received fondly by the community, while others find it too focused on blogging and not suitable for other kinds of websites.
Conclusion
Time only will tell how the new update will be received by the community. This update in my opinion is Word press’s response to all the website builders out there and a step forward to make WordPress more friendly to the non tech-savy users, who are trying to create a website.
For those who are looking to disable the new editor, and keep things classic, there is a promise that it will be maintained until 2021, and there is a plugin that reverts the change – https://wordpress.org/plugins/classic-editor/
More info on the WordPress 5.0 update: https://wordpress.org/news/2018/12/bebo/