Blocks freeze
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Hi there!
My current theory is that Jetpack is causing the problem. Jetpack is enabled in WordPress.com, and I don’t see any way to prevent it from tracking. Interesting that WordPress.com editing seems to work flawlessly with the Brave browser. Is there a way to prevent Jetpack from tracking and causing this problem?
It’s unlikely that Jetpack is causing the problem. It runs on all of WordPress.com sites and if it were causing a widespread issue, we’d get a flood of reports. To my knowledge, we’ve only got two reports (only in this thread) and none of us internally are able to replicate this issue on any of our browsers (we’re spread across the globe so we’ve been trying on different computers/browsers/internet connections.)
Could you please try this on Incognito once again and if the blocks freeze, take a screenshot of the Console for all the errors that may be appearing? Check out this page for instructions on how to see the JavaScript/Console errors on Google Chrome: https://wordpress.com/support/browser-issues/advanced-browser-troubleshooting/#java-script-errors-in-google-chrome
Once the blocks freeze, please follow the steps there to open the Console, take screenshots of everything that appears there (If you can’t fit everything into one screenshot, please take multiple).
You can use an online tool https://snipboard.io/ to upload the screenshots and share the generated links here so that we can check.
Thanks!
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I’ve tried Incognito again.
Here are my screenshots:
https://snipboard.io/goVpkt.jpg (frozen blocks/no editing dialogs on main screen)
https://snipboard.io/TE0Bhw.jpg (warnings in console)
https://snipboard.io/uiO893.jpg (shared buffer array issue in console)
Thanks! -
Thanks, that’s definitely a problem.
Would you mind seeing if this also happens for you in the Firefox browser? https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/
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Okay, so I finally downloaded Firefox, and the problem shows up there as well, as I suspected.
The cookies/cache are clean because Firefox is a fresh install, and I only logged into WP.
There are 15 warnings and 9 errors in Firefox. Here are the screenshots from the console (when the blocks are frozen in the edit post page):
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This is so very odd, I am just not able to reproduce the issue myself.
If you try to select text from multiple paragraphs, it should only allow you to select text from one paragraph block and not move on to the others (this is being improved, but that is the behavior now).
Are you sure you’re not using any sort of ad or tracker blocker, or maybe even an ad/tracker blocking DNS like Ad Guard or NextDNS.
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I’ve turned off Windows Defender and Ad Blocker again, tried to edit a WP post, and the blocks froze in Chrome and Firefox. Surprisingly, the blocks didn’t freeze in Chrome Incognito. This is new. I’ve tried Incognito earlier today and weeks ago, with Defender and Ad Blocker off, and it didn’t work then. So I’m not entirely convinced that the issue in Incognito is suddenly fixed.
Chrome screenshots:
https://snipboard.io/wGNb2Q.jpg (this is the edit post page with frozen blocks)
Chrome incognito screenshots:
https://snipboard.io/fdqLgE.jpg (this is the same edit post page from before. I’ve highlighted three blocks, the edit dialog is up, and nothing is frozen.)
https://snipboard.io/KgW7tv.jpg (even though the blocks are working, there’s still a warning in the console)Firefox screenshots:
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I disabled Ad Block Plus in Chrome, but was still able to reproduce the problem.
On the other hand, tonight I created a new post using the Brave browser, pasted the text in, saved 10 drafts and published, even moved blocks around, etc. No problems. I can’t believe only one other person is experiencing this, when it happens to me in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. To be clear, I use WordPress.com as my host. I have several sites, and have been testing this on https://historicipswich.org/ and also on https://historicmassachusetts.org/ with the same results.I should mention one more thing. When I highlight a short piece of text to add a link or put in bold, what often happens but not always, is that it applies to just a short part of the highlighted text. As I also mentioned I can’t link any text if it is a list. I don’t know these are related, but these problems all started in the last couple of months, but I don’t know the exact date. I am using a Dell latitude 5490 laptop 64 bit with the latest Windows 10 version.
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I completely agree with you, Gordon. It’s crazy only two people are experiencing this. Or at least only two people who have come forward about it.
I also have a problem with highlighting text that’s started in the past three months or so. I highlight a set of words to either bold or italicize, and only a couple words or letters are changed. The same thing happens when I highlight something to hyperlink. The hyperlink only attaches to part of the selection. This is annoying, but not as big of a deal as the freezing blocks and disappearing edit dialogs.
I’m using a Lenovo Ideapad S145, 64-bit Windows 10.
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Amber have you tried the Brave browser yet? I still suspect there’s something in the WordPress.com or jetpack tracking code, and Brave was the solution for me. Brave blocks all 3rd party tracking. I like it so much that I’ve begun transferring my bookmarks from Chrome to Brave. I was already using two browsers because I have two Gmail accounts. I despise Edge, because it takes you to a home page plastered with clickbait, but Brave doesn’t do any of that. Give it a try so we know if that solves your problem as well.
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Just want to jump in that you two are not the only ones experiencing this! I’ve been dealing with for the last several weeks and thought it was only me. I’ve tried all of these fixes too (adblockers, extensions, clearing cashe, etc.) But I’m going to look into Brave I guess, since it seems like that’s the only thing that has worked for anyone.
It’s incredibly frustrating. I agree that it seems to happen when text is highlighted. Like if I highlight text to italicize and entire paragraph it will often then flick to highlighting all of the blocks (just the blue line around the blocks, not highlighting all of the text.) And from there I’m stuck unable to edit anything unless I save and refresh the entire page. Very hard to get work done this way.
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The exact same thing happens to me as what theLibraryLadies wrote. Brave is still working ok for me.
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Hi folks,
I realize this is frustrating, but we haven’t been able to reproduce this on our end, which makes it near-impossible to find the cause. Both issues here – the freezing when selecting text across multiple blocks, and formatting only being applied across part of the highlighted text – have been reported to our developers. But until we figure out what’s causing this there’s not much more we can do for now.
Thanks for the information that it doesn’t happen in Brave. Hopefully that gives our developers a clue where to look.
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It’s not so much “freezing” as just a disappearing cursor and inability to edit text (if you click to select a spot in a paragraph to edit, for example, you can only get the block selected with no paragraph options or ability to type).
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Exactly “Library Ladies.” I edited a post today in Brave and did have one problem that I have in Chrome. I tried several times to hyperlink a section of text that I highlighted, and each time it link a few letters at the beginning and a few at the end of the highlighted text. When I tried again, it chose different pieces of text to link.
Hard to believe that only 3 people are experiencing these problems.
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New info–I’ve been editing WordPress on a Dell Latitude 5490 with an 8th generation i5-8350U processor. I also have a Dell Inspiron laptop with an 8th generation I5-8250U processor, and a Dell Optiplex with a 2nd generation i7 processor. This afternoon I tried editing a couple of WordPress pages on those other two computers and was not able to reproduce the problem.
What processors are the other two people using? Perhaps this is a processor or memory problem. During the past couple of weeks I have 3 times experienced what seems like an unrelated problem on the Latitude 5490 where when I go to use it first thing in the morning, the screen is black and the fan is running at high speed; the only way to regain use of the laptop is to hold the power button down until it shuts down, and then restart. Just thought I should mention this.
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Ok, I tried a couple of things this afternoon. First I ran a full memory check, which reported no problems. But then I ran the Windows disk cleanup, which removes downloaded program files, temporary internet files, DirectX shader Cache, Delivery Optimization files, temporary files and empties the cache. I was unable to reproduce the problems after that. If the problem returns, I’ll try removing each of those items separately to narrow the problem. This may confirm why Brave works, because it does not allow 3rd party tracking.
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Well, the Windows disk cleanup solution didn’t last long. I edited one post and was half way through the other when the problem editing WordPress with Chrome started again.
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The same thing has been happening to me for the same length of time. I am on an HP Chromebook. Never had this problem until a week or two ago.
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Is there some sort of fix for this? I am not personally experiencing this, but I am on a blog with several other bloggers and 3 of them have reported this.
Their current workaround is to completely switch to the classic editor.
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