WordPress 5.0 released into the internet ecosystem on December 6, 2018 and many people are already asking themselves how to disable Gutenberg for WordPress 5.0. WordPress plugin and theme developers didn’t completely embrace its roll out and issues are already being reported.
Gutenberg is/will eventually become a handy feature for non-developers looking to enhance their organizations’ websites. (Sensus Media will follow up in another post about the new editor and the Blocks and widgets that will take WordPress to the next level.)
However, like any new software or update, Gutenberg will inevitably experience growing pains and bugs will have to be worked out. And those Gutenberg pains are starting to surface.
The WordPress 5.0 or Gutenberg release on December 6th caused quite a bit of a hub-bub as many organizations are in end-of-the-year mode and time is precious. While we can debate the appropriateness of the timing, it’s best to start identifying the bugs as organizations upgrade to WordPress 5.0 and provide solutions.
At Sensus Media, we’ve already noticed that the extremely popular Advanced Custom Fields ACF isn’t 100% compatible. For custom fields placed above the Classic Editor and now above the Gutenberg editor, these fields are no longer visible via the administrator page panel.
Theme developers and website managers can elect to move those custom fields below the editor and the fields will reappear on the administrator page panel.
While there is considerable debate about the Gutenberg’s intuitiveness and UI/UX, at Sensus Media we feel those issues will be resolved with future updates.
But in the meantime, we expect to see various plugin issues popup over the next several weeks and months. We will do our best to report those issues as we discover them and hopefully save your team and organization time and headaches.
Plugin and theme developers will also be working to make their products 100% compatible with Gutenberg. This will take time.
Lastly, as this process plays out, Sensus Media recommends organizations, especially organizations without a dedicated WordPress developer, to disable Gutenberg entirely. We recommend installing and activating the Disable Gutenberg plugin. Developer Jeff Starr has released this plugin to help alleviate the Gutenberg growing pains. It already has 30,00+ active installations and a 5-star rating.
The first release of software products are never their best as most organically grow over time with feedback from users. We look forward to Gutenberg eventually competing with Divi, Elementor and WPBakery as the go-to WordPress page builder.
But until then, install Disable Gutenberg plugin and continue of your merry way.
For troubleshooting and Gutenberg related issues, contact Sensus Media at (303) 479-3188.
