It isn’t so horrible once you get used to it. But it has serious problems.
For the love of God, can someone tell me an easy way to get the image block to come up permanently as a default selection? Let’s say I want to insert an image. I hit the stupid black plus sign to the right of the block and this comes up:

Do you see “image” anywhere in there? I don’t. “Image” has to be the most common block anyone uses other than text and text doesn’t require anything but to click in the block and start typing. This would be true of a business site as well. Why the f*ck do I have to go looking for it? It just slows me down.
After I have searched for and selected “image” it now shows up in subsequent boxes when I click the black plus. It replaces the hart icon for donations. However, if I exit and reenter the editor, guess f*ing what? It is gone again.

But just now it forgot while I was still editing! If this is supposed to be my “most used icons” box it needs to remember.
Besides, why should I even have to open up a window every time to get at something I use multiple times in every post? I want the goddamn thing to be right there on the toolbar because I use it so much, where it used to be. So does every other blogger who uses the same block type over and over.
Since “paragraph” is what always comes up as the default block type after a return, it shouldn’t even be in the box. It wastes a space that could contain something useful.
Just now I tried to add a featured image by URL and the option isn’t there anymore? WTF? I can add an image by URL but not a featured image? So I have to save it to my desktop, then upload it. What a PITA!
Under certain circumstances, my cursor disappears. That vertical blinky line that tells me where I’m going to start typing? Gone. I click where I think the cursor ought to be to start typing. If the cursor is in the middle of a post, when I’m revising and I look away from it, I now need to read the post to see where I was. The cursor blink is supposed to be as an aid to draw your attention to it and losing the visible cursor completely is an annoyance.

And this gem is great! I start a new block or I click in an existing block and this pops up, obscuring the bottom line of the previous paragraph or the bottom segment of the graphic above it. Should the paragraph I am working on be near the top of the window it obscures the very paragraph I’m typing in.
There is a completely empty bar at the top of the screen it could be displayed in but… it… is… just… blank. Wasted space.
The separator below this isn’t just a graphic element. It is yet another graphic element that I use very often that has come to be difficult to access. Just like the “image” block type, you have to frigging search for it and there is no way I know of to keep it in the default box forever. Really, I should be able to put it on the top bar in the window to keep it handy.
Another good one. I put a properly formatted center justified caption under a picture. But when I preview (or publish) often it shows up as a regular left-justified line of text. Not always. Just often enough to drive me nuts.
Stupid things like this annoy the hell out of me. A new editor that most of us had no use for is foisted on us. And even then it is not yet ready for prime time. I did not pay them money to be a beta tester.
I may trust they will improve it but I do not trust them very far. I use it because it is the tool I have and better than going to Bloglovin and not blogging is worse than either of those options.
September 29, 2020 at 19:23
I agree with every specific detail you have complained about. And I have been doing this since 2013, and I don’t remember a single year when they didn’t disrupt my writing routine by changing something and making me relearn everything.
September 24, 2020 at 19:03
Yeah, so I hate the block editor and all my captions end up left justified. A pox on useless improvements.
September 24, 2020 at 18:37
Block editor? Is this only for business sites?
September 24, 2020 at 19:00
To my knowledge it is for everybody? You ought to have been afflicted with it by now. Maybe they are only rolling it out to a few users at a time?
They took away the visual editor we all knew and loved but left the “classic” editor that comes up in the admin window… but only if you install a plugin.
In the block editor you create a “block” with a return. You can just start typing as it defaults to paragraph or you have to define what kind of block it will be which kind of a PITA. Working with blacks is also a kind of PITA because nothing feels intuitive any more. The old visual editor felt VERY intuitive and I never had a problem with it.
September 25, 2020 at 11:31
To be honest, this is the first I heard of this. I guess since I only have the premium package and I haven’t had full access to the business plan.
I am assuming this block editor is very complicated and annoying for writers who wants to compile their writing.
September 25, 2020 at 17:07
Not horridly complex but absurdly annoying in ways that don’t make sense.
September 26, 2020 at 10:25
Oh I see. I hope things get cleared and easy for you and for your blog soon.
December 4, 2020 at 14:17
If you follow the link below, does it take you back to the Classic Editor? It does for me (after replacing the blog name) and I don’t have a plugin installed.
https://aunatural.org/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=page&classic-editor
December 4, 2020 at 16:33
Not really. It takes me to a location where I can set up additional pages. When I pick a style it pops me over to block editor, even though it says “classic” in the url.
If I want to use the classic editor I have to go to
https://aunatural.org/wp-admin/edit.php
Then I mouse over the title of an existing post and it gives me options for classic editor, block editor, and quick editor. All my new posts come up in block editor, so I’d have to create a stub and then open it in classic that way. Too much trouble.
December 5, 2020 at 15:01
The solution is to use https://aunatural.org/wp-admin/edit.php to edit old posts and https://aunatural.org/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=page&classic-editor) to create new posts, all in classic mode. That’s what I do, which bypasses the block editor entirely. No significant extra effort.
September 30, 2020 at 08:42
I have had it inflicted on me and I’m using the free wordpress.com product. I’m starting to get used to it, but it has a big problem with image captions – they look exactly like what you want in the editor and then look like regular text in the published version, and there is no way to make it anything but left justified. Also, I cannot find any way to insert special characters like TM or the copyright symbol.
September 30, 2020 at 20:57
I just did a blog post on that. You can do it but it ain’t pretty.
September 23, 2020 at 14:32
You can also hit the “Browse All” button below those selections and it will give you all of the selections. It’s not so bad once you get used to it. Technology is ever changing.
September 23, 2020 at 16:29
I don’t want to have to browse through all that. Way too inconvenient.
I don’t wanna! I don’t wanna! I DON’T WANNA! WAAAAGH!
September 23, 2020 at 17:15
😂
September 23, 2020 at 11:27
I feel your pain. I’ve discovered that the easiest way for me to add images is to take the damn photo with my phone. I gave in and installed WP on my phone and sure enough, it works better there. (I have a whole pet peeve about everything being built to work best and look best on a little phone. Some of us dinosaurs still use actual computers) I take a photo and under share I can send it to WordPress. Then I get the image block first thing. Of course, I can type on my COMPUTER about 1000 times faster and more accurate than on the phone. So I upload the photo on the phone. Save it to draft. Close the phone app. Put the phone down. Go to my computer. Open WordPress… and commence to curse generally. Don’t get me started on the stupid pop-ups coming up over a block so you can’t see what you are doing. Deep cleansing breathe. Like you, I have resigned myself to being stuck with it. I have another long pet peeve about NEW is NOT necessarily IMPROVED and this Block Editor totally falls into that. At least we know we are not alone…
September 22, 2020 at 20:16
glad I am not the only one getting beyond frustrated with the new block editor, I’m slowly getting use to it but it feels like as soon as I get use to something it goes and changes again