The Classic Editor plugin will be supported until December 31, 2021. Link
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Exactly.
What happens after 2021? You hope your sites can switch over to Gutenberg without breaking (which probably won’t work at that point since ol’ “Goober” doesn’t have backward compatability), you redo all your older sites (which probably isn’t realistic), or you switch to ClassicPress if you can.
If Gutenberg were rolled out incrementally as software companies traditionally do, it wouldn’t be the issue it is. If Goober were tested and rolled out with actual community input, it wouldn’t be the 1-star dog it is. If it were actually needed, that’s be a huge bonus.
ClassicPress is a great blessing to WP developers who don’t want to get the “Jersey salute” from Automattic.
Now it’s time for my morning caffeine intake and to get some other work done.
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I agree with you on all points. Was just confirming the end date for the Classic Editor plugin.
Goober, LOL. I like that.
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It’s nice that they’ve declared an end-of-life date for Classic Editor, but that is essentially a trap. It gives people the feeling that nothing changes for 2 years, and that they can hold off on doing anything more than installing the Classic Editor. Meanwhile, under the hood, Gutenberg continues to evolve and moves into more areas of WordPress. I predict that, when Classic Editor is retired, the WP community will have another big kerfuffle and a lot of site managers/owners/whatevers are going to wish they had just switched to ClassicPress while it was still easy.
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Some related discussion on GitHub:
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Of course it’s a trap. If you were Automattic/Mullenweig and you’re looking at making stake holders/investors happier with you and building a mega company (which in and of itself I don’t take umbrage with, it’s just how they go about it) you want as many people as possible using your “new and improved” way of doing things to crow to investors about. That’s why they always harp on how many millions of people “use” Gutenberg. They actually have it installed, against their will, and its’ a key point they don’t like being pointed out and will obfuscate at every turn. Gutenberg still has more 1 star reviews than 5 - which from a business standpoint is tone-deaf: to force a new editor that no one likes and is full of weird bugs. I think you’re absolutely right about switching over. I’m at the cross-roads where I have many sites, many of which I’ve switched over to CP. Others, other developers have said just don’t update or use Disable Gutenberg. Again, it’s a logic trap with faulty reasoning: WP surely won’t let Disable Gutenberg work forever. At some point it has to be blocked, or become obsolete or too much trouble to maintain; just at the Classic Editor plugin will be cut off after that end date. If they didn’t cut it off, everyone would just use it indefinitely and problem solved.
The only real solutions I can see are either do not update and run the risk of security holes after a while and everything getting buggy, update and take your chances your current or older site will work down the road which is unlikely (without alot of work on rebooting it), or use CP. It’s kind of like a Gordion Knot we as WP developers / users have been put into. And the great irony is that small business owners and most agencies and hosting companies don’t even know what’s going on or understand the changes coming.
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That was the best response I have seen to an equally awesome mission statement from Scott. I would not have joined the forum at this time until I read both your content. I noticed your avatar and thought you might have been an Aussie… and funny that the resonance of your reply could be related to our ages being within a year - but I am about as far from you as you can get and still have internet :)
I only found out about Classic Press today, from WPTUTs youtube channel, and was slightly intrigued at why another or alternative to WP was available (I actually think WP is really illogical) and have been constantly hoping for a simpler solution to CMS or indeed Web site software/systems. Again to bring this whole response back to relevance - it was both Scott and your responses that have inspired me to make the change to CP - I have nothing to lose and perhaps I may be able to help in some small way.
The idea of making the world a slightly better place is a wonderful project.
Cheers
Peter
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Hi Peter,
I used to have a username “Fossil Features” on Paltalk! Thank you for the kind words.
Indeed you have nothing to lose (assuming you backup your site first just in case) and everything to gain. All my sites are now on ClassicPress and there have been no problems.
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People wonder about the long-term viability of CP, but it looks like more and more people are coming in. Also, some plugin/theme developers don’t like Gutenberg. With all the planned structural business, it may put some of them out of business. So I can see them coming over to CP.
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Its quite normal people are windering for the longevity of CP. We witnessing a software that is the last of its kind a “blog CMS” (I don’t know of any of them still being around). It has been with us for 15 years and just has made a killing mistake. It has pushed away a lot of people and the WordPress support forum is a PR disaster. When you read a WordPress admin saying that is perfectly acceptable to be condescending you ask yourself some questions.
People are running around lilke a chicken without its head. They don’t know where to go and CP look like a good alternative but will it still be there in 5 years? Some may still even be running legacy blog that are as old as WordPress itself. Also there is the huge fracture with buisness needs and “common” people needs. WP 5.0 as moved bith world quite hardly.
Personally I’ve read some petition that have been accepted that doesn’t feel good and a lot of other petition feel completly detached from a lot of “common users” needs and very dictated by technical people.
A lot of people a having there eyes on classic press but how much will stay? even in the plugin developer world. Is CP viable for them or do they stay safe on the biggest WP market?
People still need to be convinced that its the good move for them.
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Oh, yeah, I can see that all over the WP forums. Especially one of the admins who is a PR nightmare. I hope CP will last because I don’t like the attitude over at WP at all.
As for petitions, I’ve seen talk that CP won’t actually get rid of things that could break sites, but put them into core plugins which can be left on if needed. Though one of the moderators would be better to answer this one; I don’t know what half that stuff is.
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@DerpFox @NyssaTheHobbit basically people are asking to “remove feature”, it’s true. Committee members warned that removing features can be a site breaker and decided to take those features out of core and serve them as “core plugins”. Think about a fresh installation of an “old” WP, at the end you got hello Dolly and akismet preinstalled. This will happen for CP also. You will migrate/install and find in the plugins section all core plugins preinstalled. From there you can decide which ones you need to activate. This will make core lighter and in my opinion performance will improve. Nothing will change because core code will be there in the form of a plugin, people will have the chance to decide if and when they need these plugins. It’s a win win.
This demonstrates also the CP longevity IMHO, you can see there is a roadmap in place involving v1 and v2 for now, that is developing as soon as new people join us. As @scott says “we are in for the long haul” - CP committee is discussing about giving CP an organizational structure ensuring respect of our values and promises, the structure we have at present is geared on a small starting community, but we foresee a fast grow and CP needs a structure allowing to deliver staying true to CP values.
These are all things to consider when evaluating longevity.
There are plans in place. CP isn’t going away. It’s here to remain.
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Can’t find it now but I saw a post on the WP feedback and request forum that classic editor plugin will gradually introduce people to blocks. Scary stuff. as this implies it will be tinkered with.
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They have made it clear that there are more phases to GB than just the editor. So in WP you will start seeing blocks elsewhere, even with the Classic Editor.
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To confirm, @NyssaTheHobbit and @ElisabettaCarrara is correct 
Using Core Plugins gives us the best of both worlds in the sense of if you want that feature you can keep, but if you don’t then you can remove it.
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I don’t know the detail of the plan, but I’d suggest they be segmented off in the plugin view (and prefixed with something like Core) to make sure people understand what they are and don’t switch off without thought.
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@wadestriebel First of all I would like to say I love the idea of CP and will do whatever I can to help out. To make a simple but overlooked point about software and plugin settings or options.
As all software is driven by either a real need or by a marketing plan, in the end, it’s the dev’s that make the thing what it is. Unfortunately, there is often a disconnect between users and dev’s. Dev’s think in efficiency and “what’s easiest for me to get this done” mindsets. Don’t get me wrong I’m a technical kind of guy and am currently taking coding classes to better understand and modify website code. But what I always see in software that is “rushed”, is that the technical side takes precedence over the end user in the beginning. Then followed by all the “don’t like” issues. (hence the main reason for CP instead of WP)
However, it is never clear when a “user” is given an option - most of the time they really don’t know if it’s a good idea to use it or not.
What I’m saying is separating core features is a great idea but, and I’m wholly down with it, but be careful doing it without using layman’s terms and more importantly “what might happen scenarios” if the option is not used, rather than letting a dev explain it to the end user in their cryptic language for how things work.
This isn’t criticism of anything here at CP just a hopeful reminder of the ease of use rule when it comes to humans. “If it’s easy it will get used, if it’s baffling (Guttenberg) it will get a bad name”
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I think for those of us concerned about the future of CP, some kind of regular update would be great. I do personally think there should be fundraising involved (and I get it if others disagree, and am perfectly fine with the disagreement), whether that’s GoFundMe, Indieagogo, Kickstarter, all of the above, or something else. Money is needed to run a business and money may very well determine CP’s stability for the many years to come that we all want it to continue onward into. It allows you to advertise and market a business, hire staff, and build a strong foundation, and compete.
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Oooh look. Blocks everywhere now. WordPress Designers Explore Ideas for Moving Navigation to a Block Interface
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As of this coming Monday Jan 7, I’ll plan on returning to this forum and participating more actively. Wheh! What a busy time of year these past weeks have been. The question I still get from anyone I interact with is on this topic of CP Longevity and, indeed, it continues to be on my mind also. Perhaps “demand” is the better word than longevity? And… obstacles that thwart demand?
I will read all of the posts here on Monday and then assess. I already know the commitment of the team of devs; awesome folks. But I admit to having some uncertainty. There I said it! I don’t want to be thinking or saying that!! I’ve started three businesses over the years so I do get start-up shakiness but there’s something about this that has me wanting more answers, more minds to bounce things around with. Well, I know I’m leaving now with words that are not fully explained/understandable but I will return with a more detailed response. I so wish I could buy more time! Anyone selling? lol.
What a great group of people here! Happy New Year to everyone! #noblocks!
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