I logged into this blog this morning and saw that I had an update to install. It’s for WordPress. 5.0 “Bebo.”
I am not going to update my blog to version 5.0. Instead, I will wait for version 5.03 or higher before I even think about updating WordPress.
I have no reason to update my blog to version 5.0. The bulk of the update seems to be to add Gutenberg, a new editor. It’s totally different from the current editor. WordPress touts it as “A whole new way to use WordPress.”
What if I don’t want a whole new way to use WordPress?
If you’ve ever written an article on Medium, you will recognize Gutenberg. It borrows heavily from the Medium interface. Maybe people want that. All I know is I don’t. If I wanted a Medium-like experience, I’d write more articles on Medium. I don’t want that, so I don’t do that.
Gutenberg seems to be a top-down change. People who use WordPress to create websites and blogs seem to be perfectly happy with the existing editor. People at the top, people like WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg, are the ones clamoring for a new editor. If you install version 5.0 and still want to use the regular editor, you have to install a Classic Editor plugin. According to Mullenweg, it will be supported until 2021. As of this morning, it already has over 700,000 active installs.
WordPress 5.0 is very much like New Coke. It’s a change no one asked for meant to replace something no one wanted to be changed.
What is with the name Bebo?
The fact that WordPress 5.0 has the dumbest name of all the WordPress versions is appropriate. Would anyone name a new car model Bebo? Nope. It’s named after Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdés. Who likes jazz music, you might ask? Matt Mullenweg, that’s who. Like more normal human beings, I hate jazz music. It’s pretentious and annoying. I’d rather listen to country music or even Jimmy Buffett than the noise pollution known as jazz music. I hate country music, and I hate Jimmy Buffett, just not as much as jazz.
Update (8 December 2018)
Unfortunately, I awoke this morning to discover my site automatically updated to WordPress 5.0. I don’t understand how that happened as I have automatic updates turned off. Even if I didn’t, I don’t think major updates automatically update.
I didn’t realize it even happened until I opened up the editor to write a new post and discovered Gutenberg on my screen. I quickly installed Classic Editor, and everything seems to be okay now.
I’m not someone who fears or avoids change. I don’t see the need for swapping tools without reason. Much like a hammer is the best tool for driving nails, the pre-WordPress 5.0 editor is the best tool for writing blog posts. It’s not like I’ve never given Gutenberg a try. I did and didn’t like it.
I have a feeling I’m not alone on this.