The sidebar edit feature is destroyed.

  • flyingcuttlefish · Member ·

    Can WP stop asking for ransom money to utilize the perfectly good old editor?

    WP wants to sell a plug-in just so users can adjust their sidebar.
    My RSS feed is down on some sites and I would like to fix it but I cannot. The “new” system is a nightmare.
    There was nothing wrong with the easy to use old “appearance” features editor system.

    WP gets plenty of money already by putting ads on our blogs.

    Please offer a choice of ‘old’ editor for the appearance features or at least for editing the sidebar.

  • metabreakr · Staff ·

    Hi @flyingcuttlefish,

    If you’re looking for the experience of the classic editor, I suggest the classic block. You can learn more about that here:

    * https://support.wordpress.com/wordpress-editor/blocks/classic-block/
    * https://wordpress.com/blog/2020/08/13/the-classic-editing-experience-is-moving-not-leaving/

    If you still need to use the classic editor and classic widgets, they’re available as a plugin on our Pro plan.

    If you’re having issues with the legacy RSS widget, please consider using the RSS block by going to Appearance → Widgets.

    Hope that helps.

  • flyingcuttlefish · Member ·

    I appreciate the help.

    What I complain about is the “Pro Plan” offer (pay to use).
    I hope enough bloggers weigh in on this to get WP to relent and offer the classic widgets for free.

    Meanwhile, I will try again with this instruction.
    On a side note – my broken RSS feed on the sidebar is now working so someone must’ve helped out there. I appreciate it.

  • kokkieh · Staff ·

    Hi there,

    Just a correction: there’s no need to upgrade to the Pro plan to use the classic editor, as the classic editor plugin is installed by default on all WordPress.com sites, including those on the free plan.

    To use the classic editor, go to Posts ->All Posts and click Screen Options top right. Select the Classic View, and when the page reloads you’ll have the ability to create and edit posts with either the classic or the block editor.

    https://wordpress.com/en/support/classic-editor-guide/

    That said, the classic editor plugin won’t be supported indefinitely, and once the community on WordPress.org stops supporting that plugin, it will also stop being available on WordPress.com. At that point the block editor will be the only option, so I strongly recommend you use the classic block in the block editor instead, if you prefer the feel of the classic editor.

    However, we don’t have any plans to offer the Classic Widgets plugin on WordPress.com, as we’ve also retired the majority of legacy widgets on WordPress.com by this point, with most being replaced by block widgets.

    The Classic Widgets plugin exists purely for compatibility issues with other plugins – not all plugins for the open source WordPress software that add their own widgets have updated those to work as block widgets yet, so someone using such a plugin on a self-hosted WordPress site needs the Classic Widgets plugin to be able to still manage their custom widgets.

    But as there aren’t any such custom widgets on WordPress.com, installing the Classic Widgets plugin won’t do anything here – it will only change the widgets interface, but it will not bring back any of the legacy widgets that have been removed from WordPress.com.

    Let me know if you have any questions about this :)

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