Totally Disgusted

@grimmag, there are some good options for you. One is to install the Classic Editor plugin, but that is a temporary fix. The other is to install Disable Gutenberg plugin by Jeff Starr–this has many more features and is noted to extend beyond Classic Editor’s cutoff date. Finally, a fork called ClassicPress might be worth looking into.

I have been examining all of these options, while we have held off any any upgrade to WordPress 5.0. My current thinking is that our best option is the following:

1. Install Classic Editor Plugin (done!)
2. Install Disable Gutenberg Plugin (done!)
3. Sometime in January 2019, upgrade to WordPress 5.0 after performing full backup
4. After the upgrade, verify site is still working as normal
4a. If NOT, downgrade to previous version of WordPress/restore via backup
4b. If YES, deactivate Classic Editor plugin to let Disable Gutenberg take precedence
5. After letting Disable Gutenberg take precedence, verify site is still working as normal
6. [ Removed sales pitch ]
7. Continue following ClassicPress fork and determine within one to two years if our website should migrate to ClassicPress–unless our internal programmers come through with a custom site (as they would like to) in order to completely get away from WordPress

I hope this helps.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Jan Dembowski.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by Jan Dembowski.

@garrettzucker – what a great plan, indeed!

@garrettzucker thank you for the detailed response, very much appreciated and no doubt worth looking into. I will definitely check out those steps you listed, especially for that ClassicPress…sounds interesting. First I’ll be heading over to look more into the ‘Disable Gutenberg Plugin’. Thank you again.

Yes, the Disable Gutenberg plugin looks like a viable option. You can choose to use Gutenberg on select pages and posts, or make the Classic Editor the only available one. What’s more, you can go back to using your favorite page builder or coding practices.

For me, ClassicPress is a last resort, because I wonder about its security as well as its supported theme and plugin selection going forward. As long as we can use the Classic Editor inside WordPress 5+, I’m staying with WordPress. In time, Gutenberg will improve.

The solution detailed @garrettzucker is very cumbersome & will be largely unnecessary for the vast majority of WP users looking to disable the Block/Gutenberg editor.

The Classic Editor plugin (1+ million active installs V 60,000+ for Disable Gutenberg (& several alternatives) allow you to quickly & easily disable the Block/Gutenberg editor on a per site/post/page/user/.. basis.

Hi! I’ve modified Item 6 in that list. Here’s why: it was too sales pitchy (buy a book?) and can be summarized like so.

6. Try the Disable Gutenberg plugin.

https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/disable-gutenberg/

Without the “buy the author’s book, leave a 5 star review, save the wales (I added that part)” pitch. The rest is cool.

Oh, and this is not bad general advice. I’ve emphasized part of it.

7. Continue following ClassicPress fork and determine within one to two years if our website should migrate to ClassicPress–unless our internal programmers come through with a custom site (as they would like to) in order to completely get away from WordPress

WordPress is GPL’ed. Forks are cool. But here’s my concern.

Creating, managing and maintaining real forks is not easy. Once the code diverges then back porting security patches becomes a real concern. That’s not a dig about the fork, that’s just the reality of it. If it’s going to be just 4.9 then that already exists here.

If you want to stay away from the new editor then as a good production maintained idea, stay on the 4.9.x version and see how it all pans out.

WordPress 3.7 has been receiving security fixes since October 2013. As a security person I think that’s remarkable and amazing.

4.9.x will remain supported for years and if I were concerned (I’m not) then that’s the one I’d stick with for the time being.

Thanks, everyone for your help and suggestions. I went ahead and swapped back to the Classic Editor, which is what I did after the first week of trying to get this new one figured out. Yeah, everything works just as good as it used to, but I guess my one major concern is…what’s going to happen at the end of 2021 when it stops getting support? If we keep on using the old editor then I’m thinking that we’re all going to be in one big mess? I know it’s 3 years away, but I’m a thinker and planner by nature and this thought bugs the crap out of me. I guess I’m just worried about when that time comes.