If, for whatever reason, you still use the classic editor or the classic WordPress widgets, congratulations!
Suddenly, I do not know why, a few days ago the team that maintains these plugins changed the description of them, which previously indicated that they would be available until 2022, indicating that they will remain available, maintained and supported until at least 2024, or as long as it takes.
The classic editor plugins (more than 5 million installations and always in the TOP 10 most used plugins) and classic widgets (more than 1 million installations and climbing), are the symptom that the block editor, project Gutenberg, still has a long way to go to convince users, plugin developers and theme designers.
Despite the improvements in the block editor, there are still issues with plugin compatibility, plugin and theme meta boxes, interface inconsistencies, and many other issues that make adoption by veteran WordPress users really low.
I still remember the number of messages in forums and contact forms complaining when the block editor was implemented, especially among WordPress.com users, who found it practically overnight, and without the possibility of deactivating it to return to the classic editor, except in plans with access to plugin installation.
Although it is true that all new WordPress users use the block editor, because it is the one they find and the one they learn to use, there is another reality and is that it is still easier to use the classic editor, very similar to any usual word processor, and its workflow is more optimal for those who write content on a regular basis on their websites and blogs.
Regarding widgets, the problem is different, but similar, because it is still easier, but above all more accessible, to add, modify and remove classic widgets than using blocks.
Another thing is the usefulness of the block editor as a tool for web creation and layout, mainly pages, of which I have always been and will always be a fierce defender, as it is a necessary standard, and a tool claimed in silence for years by all those millions of users of layouts like WP Bakery, Elementor, Divi and others, who chose themes with these design and creation applications as they did not exist so far natively in WordPress.
But, continuing with the editor issue, there is also a hidden figure, and that is the millions of Elementor or Divi users who never or almost never use the WordPress editor, limiting themselves to create websites with a few pages, from the layout, often starting from templates, so the real adoption rate of the block editor is unknown.
In any case, as said, there will be classic editor and classic widgets until 2024, or as long as necessary, for what, I guess, until the block editor is mature enough to be a viable and practical alternative for content creators.
Do you use the classic editor or the block editor?
The problem with the Gutenberg editor isn’t getting developers and bloggers to transition to it, it’s the everyday Joe that isn’t a developer or a regular blogger that wants to be able to write an article himself for his own website. The Gutenberg editors a real pain in the ass for anybody who doesn’t understand blocks or Widgets and things like that.
Anybody that doesn’t live in the back end of a WordPress website is going to have a hell of a time adapting. WordPress is in the wrong state of mind trying to think that the adoption of the block editor is a good thing for the general public or anybody who doesn’t build websites for a living.