Hi. I’m Sheri, and I’m stepping in to help test upcoming changes to the WordPress.com editor.
What is it?
The WordPress.com editor is the editor you use to create content for any WordPress site via the WordPress.com interface. We’ve got some major changes coming up, and we’d like some help testing the new version before we enable it for everyone.
What is changing?
Taking what we’ve learned from the last editor iteration, previously known as beep beep boop, we are working on a faster version of the editor, with better previews, improved autosave, quick access to drafts, updates to the editing toolbar, and more.
We listened. We took your past feedback to heart, and we also prioritized features based on usage statistics. We hope that, by testing early and often, we will be able to make the update process a better experience than it has been in the past.
There is a team working hard on the editor and making improvements every day.
What to test:
We’d like to know:
- Are there any blockers? Blockers are things that prevent you from publishing new content.
- Your overall impression: does it feel fast? are there parts of the interface that aren’t clear? is publishing a new post simple?
- Any bug or frustration you feel while using it.
To test, try the following activities:
- Go to https://horizon.wordpress.com/post
- Select your site if prompted.
- Write a post as you normally would.
- Try some common tasks (one or as many as you’d like):
- Add an image with a caption
- Add/remove tags and categories
- Change the author (if you have a multi-author blog)
- Schedule a post
- Preview a post
- Customize your publicize settings
- Create then delete a draft
- Try adding a captioned gallery
- Try the keyboard shortcuts
- Anything else you normally do when publishing a new post
- Let us know in the comments here if you run into any problems.
Thank you so much for your interest in helping to test the editor! Any amount of testing is good, so it doesn’t matter if you try just one task or all of them. We’d love your feedback on any part.
Keep in mind that there are likely to be bugs in early testing, and finding those are the main concern at this point. We’d like to ask that you look at this next iteration of the editor with an open mind and volunteer feedback that has context and that separates the problem from the solution. Please take a moment to read “Tips on giving feedback” and then please let us know what you find when testing!
We are going to gather feedback about the editor here for the next several weeks, until September 30th extended until this feature launches.
Horizon Feedback 
The markup for a forced blank space [ ] occurs on 2 lines in the initial HTML tab for a new post. Why is the initial HTML tab for a new post not empty?
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Thank you for testing!
I tested this using Firefox 40.0.3 on Windows 7, and the initial HTML tab for a new post is empty in my tests. There is, however, more white space between the tabs and the content in HTML mode compared to Visual—although you’re description about a forced blank space sounds like the character code. Can you check to make sure you’re not hitting the enter key before you click the HTML tab? If you’re still having trouble, let me know. So far in my own testing I cannot see any characters at all by default in either the Visual or HTML tab in a brand new post.
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Yes, I was referring to and did not remember that comment posting honors a little of HTML. Looks like I did accidentally press [Enter]. Repeated the test of starting a new post and found a blank [HTML] tab, as U did.
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I am using the Academica theme and the Firefox 40.0.3 browser on a Win 7 computer.
I clicked [Preview] for a draft post and was happy about how fast the “preview” came up but very unhappy about things:
(1) What comes up at first is horizontally truncated, with the 1st letter of each line flush against a sky blue border on the left and the last few letters of each line hidden under a vertical scroll bar for the frame containing the draft purportedly being previewed.
(2) To get a *REAL* preview I need to click again, on the icon that looks like a square with an arrow pointing to the northeast. There is no hover help for this icon; I had to *guess* that it might do something useful and *hope* that it would not do anything nasty (like publish my draft prematurely). The real preview is what should come up *directly* when I click [Preview] from the Editor, without another click on an unobvious icon.
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In the fast preview, the window is a little bit smaller than full-width and it sounds like in your case there is some horizontal scrolling because of that combined with the fact Academica is is not responsive and probably also because your browser screen size is just big enough to display the theme normally but not big enough to display it in the slightly smaller preview window. For context, may I ask what the exact dimensions of your browser display are? If you’re not sure, I should be able to figure it out if you can post a screenshot somewhere that I can see.
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My Firefox 40.0.3 browser window is 1273 x 764 [in pixels], maybe 1 or 2 more in either direction. Cannot get much wider w/o going full-screen. There is no horizontal scrollbar when the quick preview is displayed.
Can I make a private post with the screen shot and give U access to it? Would rather not post so much of the draft publicly just yet. Could e-mail the PNG file if that is more convenient.
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No need for a screenshot now that you’ve noted the browser window size because that’s what I was after. Thanks!!
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Responsive buttons have been added to the instant preview option, including one for full-width.
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Re: Reply by Sheri {November 6, 2015 at 1:07 pm}
Thanks. After clicking on the desktop monitor icon in the fast preview, I do get a preview that matches the page when viewed. Glad to have the tablet and phone icons also, so I can see how a post would look to somebody on a different platform. That will help me find a theme similar to Academica on my computer but friendlier to other platforms.
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After more iterations of editing and previewing, I get the impression that the partial preview produced by clicking [Preview] opens so quickly in part because it does not need to use another browser tab. The full preview produced by clicking that square-with-arrow icon seems to take about as long as before.
The functionality of having choice between a quick-and-dirty partial preview or a full preview is rather nice. I would rather access that functionality by having 2 buttons, say [Quick Preview] and [Full Preview]. That would be more intuitive as well as a little faster for those who want a full preview.
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I composed a post in the new editor. It certainly felt simple, fast and easy to use. I did not like the beep beep boop editor but liked this new iteration.
I went around clicking to find how to make a sticky post, add a new page, and visibility settings. I liked that all the options are at one place, to the left. So I had an overall good impression and this is something I would love to use, going forward.
I however did not find two options I use widely, in that order: proofreading and distraction free writing mode. I am sure I checked the editor thoroughly but couldn’t find them. I would be happy to be proved wrong.
I haven’t tested enough to find bugs but will keep using this editor for the next few weeks and report any bugs I may find.
This is all for now. Thanks for the great work on improving the editor.
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Thank you for testing @chaitanyamsv!
I love hearing this so much.
This is only one step in a bigger update that will happen in stages as we go, so not all features that were there before will be included right away. Our goal is to get the most-needed features out first to the majority of people as early as we can and continue to improve from there. In regard to distraction free writing, the new design itself is intended to be as distraction free as we can make it without having to introduce another mode. Proofreading is not included now but may be added back later depending on feedback and reviews of past usage stats.
Perfect!
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I agree with your overall assessment. Tho there are some rough spots, it looks like the new editor will be a significant improvement.
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Some possible bugs: When inserting tags it doesn’t auto-suggest existing tags.
I tried inserting an old image via the Add Media button. I was unable to find the image by searching for it until I discovered that the media search is apparently case-sensitive. Even then, it found the image if I searched certain words of the image title, but not others. E.g. in this case the image title is “Mini-TARDIS cake”. It found the image with “TARDIS” and “cake”, but not with “Mini”, “mini” or “tardis”.
I can’t find the option to insert a gallery anywhere. The Add Media button only gives the option to insert single images, but not galleries.
It’s also not possible to specify image size or alignment before inserting images, and once an image is inserted it’s no longer possible to edit the image description and alt-text except in html view. This might be less of an issue to someone not used to those features.
Not really bugs, but…: The sidebar scrolls up and out of sight with a long post. Maybe not a bug, but it’s irritating to have to scroll back up to be able to access it.
No integration with the Zemanta browser add-on. I like using this from time to time to add links and images to posts and the current iteration of the new editor still supports it.
At first I thought the option to edit the slug was missing and only discovered it by accident.
Other thoughts: I don’t notice any difference in loading time from current iteration. It still feels slower than the classic editor. I think it’s due to the fact that I have to stare at a loading screen – it’s psychological. The preview also takes long to load and, as it’s in a pop-up in the same window I can’t continue working on the post while I wait. (I’m on a somewhat erratic 3G connection, if that helps.)
Getting back to my draft after switching computers/browsers was very easy, and the auto-save appears to be working well, also when switching to the classic editor. It does bug me that there’s not an actual save button, but that’s because I’ve conditioned myself never to rely on autosave alone.
Inserting images and selecting a featured image is quick and easy.
I still prefer the classic editor for reasons related to both design and functionality, but I imagine a newcomer landing in this editor will be able to use it without any trouble.
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Thank you for the detailed feedback!
This should be working—I think it might be a staging server issue and I’m working to test it. May I please ask what browser version you are using?
It’s built in! I don’t want to post here how to do it right away because I want to see if anyone else runs into this problem during the testing timeframe. Can you try it one more time and let me know if you still can’t find the solution?
This is also built in. Can you try again?
Sounds like we will need to work on discoverability for a couple areas regardless, but for the purposes of feedback right now, let’s not post the solution here and see how many others hit this problem as well.
Yes, that matters. Thank you.
Thanks for all of the other feedback too. I’m keeping track of it all.
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Ooh! A treasure hunt! I’ll take another look.
I’m using Firefox 40.0.3 on a Windows 7 machine. I’ll check what it does in Chrome with my next post.
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Okay, I had another look. I saw how to insert galleries. I could have sworn I’d tried it yesterday, but I’m probably mistaken 🙂 However, as it only displays the shortcode in the visual editor there’s no simple way to edit the gallery after inserting it. Not a complaint, just an observation.
Another issue is that if using older images that already have captions saved, there’s no way to remove the captions from the gallery screen. I had to go back to each image’s individual details screen and remove the captions there before I could add them to the gallery without captions.
I do like that it previews the gallery immediately on the screen where one selects the gallery type, before inserting. That’s an improvement over even the classic editor.
I couldn’t find any way to specify image size and alignment before inserting. My best guess was to click on the dimensions in the image details screen, but that didn’t do anything. The only way I could find was to click the image after inserting and changing it that way.
The auto-suggest of tags works fine in Chrome, though still not in Firefox.
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Aha, I replied above about the auto-suggest issue before I saw your latest reply. Also, thanks for the notes on captions/galleries, that is on par with the wp-admin editor and something we may be able to look at updating later—it’s a good note.
Yes, I think this is one of a few areas we’ll need to make more discoverable. Thank you for bringing it up.
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Quick update: I reported the tag issue as a bug (10345), thank you, and wanted to note I found it was only a problem for Firefox in testing. Thank you for including notes on speed—I think the staging server might be a factor and possibly the initial load. Previews and image inserts were notably faster for me, even in earlier testing.
Keep the feedback coming if you think of anything else!
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Just something else: I noticed when viewing the same post in the classic editor that every autosave shows as a revision. As a limited number of revisions can be saved, repeated auto-saving in a single session can potentially push a completely different previous version off the revisions list, making it impossible to revert to it later. I’ve never had to do this myself, but I can imagine it being a potential problem.
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Thanks for reminding me why AutoSave should be optional, with user control over the interval.
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This one is a tradeoff. Currently, preference goes to preserving the current edits as reliably as possible.
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I get that. That’s why I mentioned it as a possible issue and not an outright bug 🙂
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@Sheri
I figured how to insert a gallery and resize images after seeing your prompt to @KokkieH. 🙂
Unless I expand the Layout dropdown box, I wouldn’t know how to add individual images. This may confuse some users.
I couldn’t find how to edit the already added gallery.
When I scrolled the editor, the left menu items are hiding behind the Preview/Publish panel as can be seen in: https://cloudup.com/ctOCl_wIEIO
Is this intentional?
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Good spot. This is going to be added.
Yes, the partial sidebar scroll is intentional. If it’s causing you trouble, please tell me why and include context if possible. That will help me.
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@Sheri,
That sidebar scroll did not cause any trouble. Just wanted to check as I wasn’t sure.
I can’t wait for the new editor to be available with proofreader and distraction free writing mode. Can’t stand beep beep boop anymore, after seeing this new editor 🙂
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Typed a few lines and shifted to HTML tabs and then everything just vanished. No tabs to go back to the visual editor.
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I haven’t been able to trigger this problem yet in my own testing. Can you please let me know your OS and browser versions?
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Hey, Sheri!
Latest Chrome with MacOSX Yosemite.
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Thank you. I still am unable to repeat the problem you described. Is there a chance the tabs are still there but have scrolled out of view at the top of the page?
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Weird new behavior described below persisted even after I rebooted my Win 7 computer. Browser is Firefox 40.0.3.
(1) The [SAVE] link is no longer displayed, and no AutoSave msg is displayed. According to the display, my changes have not been saved. No matter how many changes I make or how long I pause, there is no indication of any AutoSave activity and no place to click on to force saving.
(2) The (Quick) Preview is now blank. To see anything at all, I must click on the square-with-arrow icon to bring up (Full) Preview in another tab. That works.
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The first one might be staging server issue, and the blank preview problem seems to just happen under certain conditions (got that one reported). Thank you! (9755-gh-calypso-pre-oss)
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I often add a bit of extra info as a footnote to my posts. I use a smaller font size for this, so I switch to html view to change the font size. However, while the toolbar sticks to the top, the editor tabs do not, so I have to scroll all the way back to the top to switch editors, and then all the way back to the bottom to add my code.
More seriously, if autosave triggers while in the html editor, any incomplete or incorrect code is automatically stripped and the cursor jumps to the bottom of the post, making it nearly impossible to work in that view of the editor. Tested this in Firefox and Chrome.
I miss that the link button doesn’t include an option to search for existing posts. I use intra-site links a lot, so I use that feature in almost every post. I also see it doesn’t show the URL in a pop-up when one clicks the anchor text, as was recently introduced on the current new and classic editor versions. I rather like that feature and would hate to see it removed again.
When I added a custom message to the Publicize box it didn’t save. When I left the editor and came back my custom message was no longer there and I had to type it again. Publicize worked fine, though.
Scheduled posts don’t work at all. Whether I click the calendar icon or the little clock symbol above the preview button to set the time, the moment I click the Schedule button the post publishes immediately. I tested this in different public and private blogs in Firefox and Chrome.
Reverting back to a draft post is very easy, as is deleting drafts.
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Great catch on HTML character entity conversions triggering on autosave. Reported it. (10295)
Same goes for the scheduled posts issue. That one was already reported, and I added a note. [Quick update on this one: scheduled posts are working for me, note that the clock and the “Schedule” part next to it are two separate buttons.] (9855)
Will keep an eye out for similar Publicize reports and also test that more myself.
Excellent notes. Thanks!
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It’s not just character entities: inside a style attribute’s quotes, for example, I mistyped a colon between the property and value, and the entire declaration simply disappeared when it auto-saved. Normally I’d catch that while proof-reading, but the auto-save doesn’t give me a chance to do that.
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There is indeed a rationale for doing frequent AutoSave-s, but *not* when saving is bundled with *deletion* of HTML or CSS code that contains typos!
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Following up to note that the HTML + autosave problem should be fixed. (10295)
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I also had the problem with scheduling a post: wrote the post yesterday (9/22) evening, set it for 9:something this morning, hit ‘schedule’, it posted immediately….
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The schedule button is the small calendar icon on the right side of the publish/schedule/update action button. If you change the date or time, the left side of the button should change to say “Schedule” and then if click that (after changing the date or time) then it should schedule. In my testing so far, I found that the button label sometimes would say Publish after that but other times say Schedule—I reported that as an issue. In your case, are you absolutely sure the posts you’re trying to schedule are published immediately (you would need to verify on the front end) or are you judging this based on the button label only? Also, can you please let me know your OS and browser versions?
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I actually was slightly confused–i don’t recall that i had noticed the little flip-calendar icon at first. But I definitely set a time; I was finishing a post later in the evening but wanted it to come out in the morning.
I am absolutely certain it posted immediately, as it kicked out to Twitter and Facebook that evening: https://twitter.com/infinitebuffalo/status/646473665970749440
I generally use Chrome 45ish (usually within a step or two of current, but i’ve got the green menu button at the moment telling me i need to upgrade again…) on Windows 8.
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I went via the Horizons home page to try and edit existing posts/pages in this editor. No major issues, though in the Page editor I did notice it gave the option to make the page sticky, which of course doesn’t apply to pages, and under page templates it added an option for Eventbrite events, even though my theme doesn’t support any page templates and I’ve never done anything with eventbrite on that blog, not even for testing.
I specifically checked what it did with parent and child pages, as this is currently a regular complaint in the forums with the new editor. I’m happy to say the drop-down showed all my pages, correctly showing existing hierarchies, and it did not change the hierarchy of the page being edited without my input, so it appears that this issue has been fixed.
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Sticky option has been removed from pages. Thanks for reporting that. (10416)
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Opened the new editor and two things immediately caught my attention:
1. Dropdown menu to instantly switch between posts/pages.
2. Post visibility icon.
Great job there, both are well-placed! Previously I had to open advanced settings to set visibility. Overall look and feel, perhaps due to the editing area being white, is also very pleasant—minimalistic and sleek!
However, I did notice a few things:
If you copy/paste a list of tags which are comma-separated, they’re all considered as a single tag. For example if you copy and paste “tag1, tag2, tag3”, it’ll be recognized as a single tag. I recall a few threads from the support forums where users had reported this, so decide to check out. Classic editor properly breaks them down into individual tags.
As you’re writing, when you reach end of the visible writing area, predictably the page automatically scrolls down. However, if you start deleting words, at one point the page won’t scroll back up. You keep pressing backspace, the words will keep getting deleted without you knowing what you’re deleting. The editor just won’t scroll up to a position where you can see the content, you have to do it manually via mouse or touchpad.
I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be like this, but when you switch between a post and page using the quick dropdown, the content (post or page) you were writing is vanished if you decide to switch back to it. What you were writing can be retrieved from the drafts, but when I tried this feature, I was expecting that it would allow me to switch back without any loss of content. I probably didn’t pay much attention to “start a new ….”. 🙂
Will report more findings as I use and test the new editor. I understand the focus currently is on making it perfect before the release, so I won’t request for features like contact form and polls to be added yet. 😉
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Thank you for testing! I hadn’t seen the backspacing words issue before. I reported the other issues. (9324)
Perfect, thanks! The biggest emphasis right now is on finding blockers—that means anything that prevents someone from accomplishing the goal of publishing a new post or page.
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I just noticed something else while looking at my media library in WP-Admin: Of the images I added to this post, only one is showing as attached in the library. As far as I can remember I uploaded all the images using Add Media in the new editor.
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I’ll look into this. Thanks!
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Quick follow-up note to say that I re-tested adding images to a post via the Add Media icon using the latest editor version, and the images attached normally in my test.
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@Sheri, Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on the Editor. It was exciting getting your email invite.
I’m using Firefox 40.0.3 on a Windows 7 laptop.
1. The first thing I noticed was the improved contrast of the side bar items. A welcome change from my point of view.
2. When I created a basic post, at first I wasn’t sure how to actually publish it. I scrolled to the bottom and saw no buttons. Then at the left I saw Preview and Schedule, but I wanted to post now and found that confusing. I clicked the Schedule button and the post was published which wasn’t what I expected. I thought there would be a date choice like “now”. (I’ve since figured out how the Schedule works. What threw me off was no Publish button.)
3. When I was creating another post, I noticed the Publish button would change to Schedule, then back to Publish as I was typing in the main area of the editor. That happened a couple of different times for me.
4. It took me a couple of tries to figure out how to add a caption to an image. Personally, I prefer the current way it’s handled.
5. Adding tags didn’t autosuggest as I expected. If I added a tag and removed it, then I would get the autosuggest along with a list of tags as a dropdown.
6. When scheduling a post, the confirmation said I had published the post. I’m prefer publish and schedule confirmations to be different (ie. “your post has been published” vs “you’ve scheduled a post”).
7. Deleting and managing drafts was easy.
8. For me the switches for “stick to the front page” and “pending review” have similar colors for on and off and it was difficult to tell the the settings apart. Also, at one point I couldn’t get the “pending review” to turn off. That slider wouldn’t move, but the “stick to” slider would.
9. The faster preview was nice.
10. I thought it was clever the way a gallery is created.
11. I couldn’t figure out how to specify image size or alignment before inserting it into a post, but that’s not something I would normally want to do anyway.
12. I forgot to update a category and add tags to a post, so I did that and clicked Update, but there wasn’t any sort of confirmation to let me know it worked. I checked the post in another tab and it had indeed updated.
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On 2, there should be a publish button to start unless you have changed the schedule date using the small button just to the right of the publish/schedule/update button. If you go to https://horizon.wordpress.com/post right now, does the button say Publish to start? (10394)
Thanks for the note about tags, so far I’m finding that to be a Firefox-only issue and I reported it.
Does it work better if you just click on it instead of trying to click-and-slide (if that’s what you were doing before)?
It’s so fast! 🙂
Try checking this one more time. (I don’t want to post the answer here so I don’t tip off other testers too early, but there’s a way to do that.)
I made sure issues were filed for the rest of the points. Thank you very much for testing! If you keep using the new editor during the testing phase, please post new comments here any time. (10394)
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I went to https://horizon.wordpress.com/post just now and it showed a faint Publish button. When I started typing in the title area, the button turned darker. After I typed a few words in the main content area, the Publish button changed to Schedule. This happened in Firefox, Chrome, and IE.
Both the “pending review” and “stick to” sliders are working for me today. I wasn’t able to recreate the problem I had before.
I spent about 20 minutes with different images, different browsers, and clicking all around, but I just couldn’t figure out how to set the image size or alignment before inserting it into a post.
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I keep trying to create a page, and it keeps turning back into a post. I’ve had this problem with the current (beep &c.) editor as well, so maybe it’s my account?
I actually went into a Chrome incognito window to try, and it’s still doing this.
I went to the pages list, https://horizon.wordpress.com/pages/infinitebuffalo.wordpress.com, hit [Add], and got https://horizon.wordpress.com/page/infinitebuffalo.wordpress.com. So far, so good.
(though, later, attempting to retest, i notice that the little box at the top says [NEW POST v]…)
I enter some text. It auto-saves. the url is now https://horizon.wordpress.com/post/infinitebuffalo.wordpress.com/393
uh oh. go to preview, and confirmed: it now shows up as though it were a post, not a page.
i was finally able to post the damn thing as a page by using the old editor (wp-admin, i think you called it?)…
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Thanks for reporting this. It has come up a few times (bbb-247), but I am not sure of the cause yet. The issue is filed and I will continue to test and look for additional reports of this.
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I was finally able to give the new editor a go. I’m running Firefox 41.0 on Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS.
I think at first I have to explain that I prefer using the HTML (Text) editor only. This means I’m used to writing my posts & pages using HTML code. I’ve never used the visual editor unless it was really necessary. With that said, let’s go. 🙂
I usually create my posts offline in a notepad window (in HTML) and just paste the final result into the editor. If the editor happens to be in visual mode (doesn’t seem to save my preference for HTML) and I switch to HTML mode, it automatically converts certain characters into HTML code and therefore messes up my posts. e.g. “<" → "& lt;". That's when I have to repaste the code. I know it's no big deal since I create the posts offline and still have the source text, but I thought I'll mention it anyway. Same thing applies to the old "beep beep boop" editor.
The fact that HTML view doesn't show any toolbar whatsoever is a huge blocker for me. What happend to all the formatting buttons like “b”, “b-quote”, “ul”, “li”, … How am I supposed to add an image in HTML view, when the editor is missing an “Add media” button? Do I really have to change into “Visual” mode to accomplish that?
I also couldn’t figure out how to change the size of the images to the predefined values “thumbnail, medium size, large size, full size”. All I could do was scaling the images by using the mouse and dragging one of the corners. Since I’m a heavy keyboard user, using the mouse to resize images is not my preferred method.
My overall impression is, it’s faster with some exceptions. The preview is much faster and I like it. HTML view on the other hand seems to be sluggish some times. I guess it’s because of all the autosaving in the background. I noticed it when the characters I entered into the editor weren’t shown instantly but took a good half second before they appeared.
Worked fine. 🙂
Worked fine. 🙂
Worked fine. 🙂
Worked very fine and really fast. 🙂
Didn’t work at all. I entered a custom message but WordPress didn’t save it an no point. I tried changing it multiple time but in the end (scheduled post) all it posted was the standard message (post title + shortlink).
Worked fine. 🙂
I was able to add a gallery but not a captioned one. How do you add captions? When I add a caption (which only works in Visual mode anyway), the preview screen only shows me the shortcode. Don’t know how to add captions here nor how the edit the gallery.
Worked fine. 🙂
Cheers
Martin K. aka iqatrophie
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Thank you for testing, @iqatrophie! The HTML editing buttons may get added back in a future iteration. To add an image for now, you will temporarily need to switch back to the visual editor. I’m sorry for the trouble! We’re looking at both usage stats and user feedback to try to prioritize each round of changes to help the highest number of people sooner and it helps to hear a unique count of people who run into each problem and we will be tracking that in a few different ways (starting with your feedback here).
At this time, dragging the resizing rectangles is the only way to resize an already-inserted image—your feedback about preferring the keyboard over using a mouse is really good context to have and I made a note of it so we can re-visit this issue.
I will work on testing the HTML editor to look for sluggishness (I bet that problem is limited to Firefox). If you do keep testing the HTML editor with Horizon and you notice the sluggishness happens even when it is not autosaving, please let me know.
I will test customized publicize messages, thank you for that note.
Gallery embeds should be added soon—you will no longer see that gallery shortcode in the visual editor after embeds are fixed. It is currently possible to add captions after you select multiple images in the gallery flow by clicking one of the buttons in the UI (I’d like to wait for more feedback about this here on Horizon Feedback before explaining it in more detail).
Great notes! Thanks so much.
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I tried using the new Editor to insert a right-aligned image with a caption. The caption came out left-aligned despite what appears in the HTML:
Wilson’s Bird of Paradise
I had not had occasion to put captions on images B4, so this might perhaps be an old bug inherited by the new Editor.
Browser is Firefox 40.0.3 on a Win 7 computer.
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This should be the same as before (although I cannot see your HTML example in the comment, I think it got removed). The alignment options you see in the image toolbar that appears at the top of an image when you click on it in the editor are for the image in relation to text and other elements in the body text area, not the caption.
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OOPS, I forgot about the way comment text is treated, neither verbatim nor with much honoring of HTML. With square brackets replaced by doubled parens and with ampersand names of angle brackets, this should be readable now.
((caption id=”attachment_346″ align=”alignright” width=”266″))<img class=” size-large wp-image-346 alignright” src={whatever} alt={whatever} width=”266″ height=”273″/> Wilson’s Bird of Paradise((/caption))
The curious part is the attribute ‘align=”alignright”‘ on the caption tag; it looks like somebody tried to have caption alignment match figure alignment. That match is what should happen!
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That align attribute still indeed applies to the entire captioned image, not just the caption text. This is how it works in wp-admin as well.
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The old caption alignment bug may well be in something used by WordPress rather than in WordPress itself. It is still a bug: there is no way that anybody would ever want to have a left-aligned caption for a right-aligned image. Glad that people willing to use the HTML tab can work around the bug by doing captions as table rows.
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Coming in really late, but hope you will still find this helpful. Still Win7Pro/Chrome version 45.0.2454.101 m
Obviously my focus was on creating a Gallery and it was not initially intuitive to me that selecting/uploading multiple images and clicking “continue” would give me the option to create a Gallery feature. (Nice!)
As my 18 uploaded images were not appearing in the order they were taken, I used the Reorder page to rearrange them. As there were no sort orders available (or did I overlook them?), I had to continually reference my computer’s upload folder to adjust the image order.
Also, when creating a Gallery, both in the WP-Admin iteration and this one, there’s no mention of the Photo Carousel. It not obvious that this is the default setting nor that selecting one of the other options in the Link To drop down menu does not override the default setting.
While having a Preview window for the Gallery is an excellent addition, having the Gallery shortcode appear in the Visual Editor window after clicking the Insert button rather than the images was a bit disconcerting. I was expecting thumbnails or something visual. (Understand this is going to change.)
Now How do I edit the Gallery or add a caption to a Gallery image once I’ve inserted it? It is not clear.
I also added a single image and then had to adjust the size of the image manually. This could be a real time-killer if I need to resize each image individually inserted in a Post.
Also, how do I now link that image to something else?
Being wary of the BBB Editor, and being a creature of habit, I kept looking for the “Save” button. The background saving seems to be much quicker and I only clicked “Save” to allay my “Lost Draft” paranoia. 🙂
I found it confusing to have a link to Draft Posts in the Post Editor while I was creating a new post. I was expecting Post Revisions for this specific post.
That is my general feedback. Thanks for listening.
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JenT! Thank you so much for testing. 🙂 It’s not too late at all, in fact, I would like to pick up the pace.
Good note on image ordering in galleries (I had trouble with that too). (k-5941)
> Also, when creating a Gallery, both in the WP-Admin iteration and this one, there’s no mention of the Photo Carousel. It not obvious that this is the default setting nor that selecting one of the other options in the Link To drop down menu does not override the default setting.
I filed this as a WP Admin issue. (wpcom-6033) In the new admin, there is not a way to turn off Carousel and it hasn’t been decided whether or not to bring that in later. Thank you for noting it—we will re-visit this at a later date.
> (Understand this is going to change.)
Correct, gallery embeds replacing the shortcode is a work-in-progress, as is editing a gallery after it has been added. Good notes here. (6413)
I filed an issue about image links. Good find!(10958)
Post revisions, if they come in, will happen in a future iteration, they currently aren’t planned as an update in the short term. Plans like this one are always subject to change, and it’s really good to bring it up here. Thanks. (9209)
“Lost Draft” paranoia is the worst! The autosave should help with that a lot.
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One more comment. After publishing, I’d be really careful about the placement of that “view post” icon right next to the send post to trash icon. =:-o
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Made a note of this. Thank you. (cpo-10960)
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Hello everybody.
I’m a little late too, so most of the things I found are already reported.
I found 2 small issues.
First, when I’m on insert a image screen, when I click on Edit, for instance to edit the image caption, if the image has a long filename, although it blurs the end of the filename, the window gets a horizontal and annoying scroll preventing me to check the image size unless I scroll. You can see how here https://cloudup.com/cenNqyuGrCz.
Second. When I closed fast-preview mode, the window remained on top of the screen at a +- 20% alpha, and I was unable to click on the close button again. It happened only once and I couldn’t reproduce, but I guess something happened on the javascript that runs the fade out animation. It seems that the animation didn’t come to an end, gettting me stuck with the not completely faded fast-preview screen. I was unable to click below it, so I needed to reload the page… hope I was clear on that one.
cheers
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Thank you for testing! I extended the testing timeline to Oct 22.
I noted the long filename issue. (cpo-11058) I will keep an eye out for the stuck preview issue.
Aside: on duplicate reports in comments, the only thing I can think of that would be good to avoid is the same person commenting multiple times on the same thing—different commenters on the same issue is A-ok, especially if you feel strongly about something or have a story or context to add.
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Hello Sher, I tried again today and found some more issues:
1. When writing a long post name, after inserting it and hitting tab to go to content, it should scroll the title back to the beginning.
2. when using tab to navigate on elements: im on content. hit tab and the order goes:
* my sites
* reader
* add post (not highlighted)
* profile
* notifications
* ←all posts
* drafts (not highlighted)
* blog link
* publish area (draft in this case) (not highlighted)
* save button (highlighted, but not clear)
* preview button
* publish button
* schedule button
* “somewhere in Categories and Tags” (not highlighted)
* search on categories and tags
* then in each category
* add new category button (not highlighted)
* Tags
And so on…..
You got the flow, sometimes I don’t know where am I with TAB order. maybe we should revise keyboard navigation.
3. fast-preview close, fade animation lockup: https://cloudup.com/cVo2K0mmci4 It happened using ESC to close it. This time I was able to click on post editor elements below it.
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I will look into the title scroll request. (cpo-11174) Thank you for the notes on tab order. (cpo-7602, cpo-8305)
Thank you for including a screenshot! I haven’t been able to reproduce the stuck preview you described. Can you please tell me your OS and browser versions? Also, are you still only able to see it happen sometimes or is it happening more often for you now?
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Hi Sheri
I’m using Ubuntu 15.04, Firefox v41.0.1 and it didn’t happened again for some time now. I’ve only saw it happens 3 or 4 times… sorry, but I don’t have more info on that.. 😐
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No problem. I will need to wait for more info, but if it doesn’t happen often then I feel it’s okay to wait for that.
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Also, I would like to state that I went mobile and… almost everything was ok! 🙂 Was able to edit nicely and did not encounter any major mobile related issues.
What I found annoying:
1. Special characters: device back button didn’t close the special char. table, instead, it hit back on my browser, getting me out of edit page.
2. toolbar is not sticky, so I had to scroll up every time I wanted to add styles to text, but then I couldn’t see the editing text, had to scroll all the way down to verify.
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The toolbar should be sticky in the visual editor. Would yo mind checking this again and just let me know if the visual editor toolbar is still not sticky for you?Scratch that, the toolbar is not yet sticky on mobile. That has been reported. /ht @kriskarkoski (8533)
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hey there!
I’ve been having loads of fun with this new text editor. great job, you guys! it’s beautiful, easy to understand where everything is, clean, and decluttered — right up my alley. +1000 for the UX!
I didn’t have the time to read all the comments, so I apologise in advance if these little remarks have been already addressed in here.
>> I know nothing about programming jargon, so please pardon my sad layman terms…
1. on the previous editor, when you added a link and clicked “open link in new tab/window”, the next time you did so, this option was already selected by default. it was really handy and I hoped you could implement that on this version.
2. also, when you hovered the cursor over a link, a quick-edit button showed up. again, it was really handy.
3. the option to choose the size of a picture is no longer available… it’s a bit of a bummer — personally, I need some images on my blog to have different sizes. (I’m using the Tonal Theme, don’t know if that helps)
4. this one is a bit of a stretch, but… if you could try and give us the option of hiding the menu on the left (if not blowing up the text edit window full size), it would make such a great difference when you’re typing your life away on larger screens…
thank you again for your amazing job and attention to detail!
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Thank you so much for the feedback!
Posting before reading the other comments and using terms that make sense to you is perfect—everyone here should feel free to do the same.
Do you make most links open in a new tab/window, or is do you only do that occasionally? 8556
Does adding an inline link-preview bar add clutter or is it valuable enough that it should be included even if it does? If you think it’s valuable enough, I want to know why (in your words) so I can include that in a request to change this. 9216
On image sizes, will it work for you to drag the corners of the image to resize it once the image has been inserted? Also, do the images in your posts always need to be a consistent size or will the best size depend on both the image and its surrounding content? 9594
I will look into the idea of hiding the left menu, but that is not currently a planned update.
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Thanks, Sheri!
1. I prefer to put have all my links opening in another tab/window, so that the visitor doesn’t have to leave my page at any time. in the horizon editor, there’s always a couple of them I end up missing…
BUT I know that not everybody agrees with this, so that’s why the preexisting feature (having to check the box just for the first one) was so cool…
I mean, if there’s no plan for/way of defining that for the whole blog, of course.
2. Yes, I think the inline preview bar is very useful. I know it can be seen as just laziness, but it’s one less trip that your mouse does (especially if you’re far down the page). you click on the link and you have immediate access to its features, instead of clicking on the link and having to go up to the top menu bar click on the link button, etc. It just doesn’t make your mind deter from the main goal as much, I think.
I don’t think it clutters, because it only shows up when you actively show you need it.
3. As for image sizes, I think a few pre-set sizes should be provided, just for the comfort and design-safety of it (small, medium, large, full-size). I usually start my posts with a large picture, but inside the post there are times when I want to insert specific detailed pictures that I don’t want/need to be full-sized.
IF i try to do this by dragging the corners it will most certainly end up in a bundle of mixed sizes… or I’d have to write down the sizes I want to use, to make sure everything is consistent throughout my posts.
also, I’m thinking of people who don’t have a steady hand, are working on a small screen, or using a trackpad: the precision you need to get the size you want may be off-putting.
4. I figured it would be a huge structural change, but since the Horizon “text box” is actually narrower than the current one, it becomes more noticeable, when you’re writing for a long time, that you are always tilting your head to the right, since the text is concentrated on two thirds of the screen — minus the margins… your neck starts to feel it after a while 😉
BUT it’s a minor thing!
thank you again, for the awesome job, 🙂
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I agree with the concerns raised in item 3 about dragging corners and want to add one. Unless I manage to drag a corner EXACTLY toward or away from the opposite corner, I will be changing the width:height ratio as well as the size [thereby squeezing any circles into ovals]. Dragging corners is no substitute for control.
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> Unless I manage to drag a corner EXACTLY toward or away from the opposite corner, I will be changing the width:height ratio as well as the size
Aside from the point about size consistency, what you mentioned about the aspect ratio changing doesn’t seem right. I tested just now with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari on a Mac and the aspect ratio stays the same when I resize an image. Note: this is without holding down the shift key when dragging. If you’re having trouble with aspect ratios or they work differently than I just described, can you let me know?
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OOPS! I was thinking of what happens with graphics SW like Paint when corners are dragged. If corner dragging preserves aspect ratio in Firefox for U, then I am sure it will for me. My bad.
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oh, I didn’t notice that and I resized a few images pretty liberally… I assumed the ratio was being preserved, and I didn’t get any distortion 🙂
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just an update on .3:
I’ve been using it and being ok with it (i defined a sized for the pictures inside and stuck with it), but still think it may be a bit complicated for the people with the situations described above.
I was wondering… maybe making it a “sticky slider” would work (gosh, sorry for the lack of programming jargon), as in it sticks between measurements, e.g.: from 650 to 600, to 550, etc… just a thought 🙂
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oops, something is happening that wasn’t happening about 30 minutes ago: I have two blogs, one in Portuguese (perfeitamenteimperfeitinha.wordpress.com), one in English. I made a post for the Portuguese one and everything went smoothly.
Now I was replicating that same post in English and when I got to the part of inserting a picture, I resized it, and when I selected “align left”, the image simply disappears as if I had clicked the trash/remove button…
spooky
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I tried to do the same with these steps:
1. Copy content including images from any post (using the editor, not looking at the site’s front-end directly)
2. Paste the content into a new post on a different blog
3. Resize an image
4. Change the alignment for the resized image
The alignment change worked for me and the image didn’t disappear. Are my testing steps the same as yours?
My first guess is that it could have been a one-time glitch that happened with copying, but if you continue to see the same problem the next time you copy over a post, definitely reply here and let me know! (cpo-10718)
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I didn’t copy/paste content. I had to write everything again, since one blog is in PT, the other in EN. the same for the images: I uploaded them again from my computer.
I eventually gave up on the “align left” thing.
when I went back to the post, on the next day, I had 4 or 5 of the same image at the end of the post — heh
maybe it was a glitch, just wanting to warn you, though 🙂
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Please put comma-separated tags (as in the Classic Editor) into the new editor. There are many reasons why I often start drafting a post offline with a plain text editor. I want to be able to copy/paste all the tags I have typed offline into WordPress with just 1 cycle of [Ctrl-C; switch to WP window; Ctrl-V; switch back to my own editor]. Needing X cycles for X tags is quite a nuisance. The new editor does not interpret commas: it treats the whole comma-separated list as a single tag that happens to have comma characters in it.
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This is a planned update but I’m not sure yet when it will be added. Thank you for mentioning it! (cpo-9324)
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Today I found something: Once the “Post Updated” green alert is shown after editing and updating a post, it never fades, so if I start editing the post again right away, and hit the blue Update button again, I don’t know if that alert is for my first or second save. Is it clear?
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Thanks. I never thought of this but I’ll keep an eye on it. Let’s see if anyone else brings it up as well.
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I am using the Puzzle theme and Safari 9.0.1. My site is photo heavy so I was particularly interested in the media functions. After initially having a little trouble finding the edit feature for new images (to add a caption), I was concerned that I could no longer adjust sizing as with the Classic and current editor, nor did I find a way to include a link. I participate in the WP Photo Challenge and like to link back to each week’s prompt through a recurring badge.
I also had trouble adding a caption to a gallery. Never did find a way to do that.
The text editing tools when in HTML mode are gone, and there wasn’t a Spellcheck feature in either mode. Both functions that I use often with the classic and current editor.
When adding text links through the Classic and current editor, it is helpful to have the Recent Item for Existing Content feature to be able to highlight previous posts. Having that list handy was so much easier than having to do a keyword search outside of the editor.
Since there are so many changes in how the editor functions, perhaps some sort of tutorial would be helpful when launching this update.
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Thank you for testing! The sizing has been updated—there are now -/+ icons in the image toolbar that appears when you click on an image. Pressing the -/+ icons will cycle through the preset sizes small, medium, large, and full. The number of image sizes available will depend on the original upload size of the image. To link an image, click on it and then press the link icon in the edit toolbar at the top of the editor.
Captions for gallery items can be added in two ways: one is by clicking “Edit” before clicking “Continue” or another is by using the “Edit” tab on the gallery preview page.
HTML editing buttons, the proofreading feature, and link searching were not included in this iteration but may be added later.
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Hi, Sheri
Please sorry for my delay in response, I wanted to test the new Editor with a new post and it took several days to prepare it…
And am I the only one here who are using for posting even not beep beep boop but directly wp-admin dashboard? O-la-la… From my point of view I would call the old dashboard “Everything under my hand” and would call the new Editor “Simplicity”; to tell the truth I could not finish and publish my post with the new Editor… First had some technical issues, for example:
– sometimes cursor becomes like “double”, something looks like option Insert (please, sorry for my terrible technical language)
– when I choose tags, I write first letter “A” and it automatically creates a new tag “A”
– try to copy an image from another site as copy image – paste but unfortunately it doesn’t work
After it I returned with my draft to the old dashboard… I think here there is my own approach, I don’t know why but with the new Editor I could not get the post form as needed. When you have text + small movie + text + picture + text + picture + text + link etc, the new Editor looks insufficient, for example, I could not customize media files. Hope it is just a first impression, will try again in a couple of days with a new post.
In any case it was very interesting to take part in testing, thanks much for your invite. If I could help with any other projects, please feel absolutely free to get in touch.
Thank you and kind regards
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Thank you for testing! Some of the issues you described sound like they might be browser-related. You do need to have an up-to-date browser—can you check your version for me to find out what it is?
http://browsehappy.com/
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Google Chrome
Version 46.0.2490.80 m
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I am using the same version. Do you have any browser extensions installed that could be interfering?
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Also, can you please tell me if you are using Windows, Mac, or Linux and what version?
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Never mind about that last request! I found that you already mentioned you’re using Windows 8 in a comment below.
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Looking at this feedback more closely, I cannot reproduce the problems you described with the double cursor or the problem of tags getting created too soon. By any chance, did you add a comma or hit enter after writing the “A”? Either of those will cause a tag to be created.
Copy and pasting an image will not work. This is the same for the WP Admin editor. After inserting an image, you should be able to customize alignment, size, and caption, however, there is not yet a way to customize meta data such as title, description, or alt text unless you remove and re-insert the image. This is something that should be added in the future. Thank you for bringing it up!
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Hi, Sheri,
Win8 and without any browser extensions
Thank you very much for your feedback and comments, please sorry, I didn’t catch you mean that copy-pasting of an image doesn’t work in wp-admin? Why, it works… At least it worked 3 days ago, if you can see my last post the image Sunset was made as copy-paste from nasa.gov
Anyway I would like to try again next week and hope to be more successful!
Thank you and kind regards
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I stand corrected! I just tested both editors and it worked for both! I tested with Chrome 46.0.2490.80 on Mac OS X 10.10.5 and with IE11 and Chrome 44 on Win8.1.
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Hi, Sheri
Today I have tried the new Editor with a new post and everything was fine! There were no bugs or any other troubles at all, the option +/- icon is perfect. Though the post was rather simple, anyway it was a real pleasure to work with!
Thank you and kind regards
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Awesome! Thank you so much for the follow-up and for testing!
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New editor has a simpler look (+), uncluttered left panel (+) but requires an extra click for editing attached photos (-).
Hiding menu buttons that are never used is good. It saves screen space and decreases distraction.
Uncluttering left panel is great compared to current editor. The classic editor wasn’t bad by the way. The only thing to mention here is the extract. This is actually a theme-dependent thing, as in some themes (like Resonar) if the extract is left blank nothing displays next to featured image and title in the blog view and you find this out later. So for some themes extracts might be important. But I guess this is not the editor problem.
Attaching media is the same but now requires an extra click to edit title/description/alt. Besides, title field is bigger than description though I’d assume description should be bigger. Edit button is not obvious from the start – should I click edit or something else to add description to my image?
What needs attention is adding categories. Default category is pre-checked. However, if I check another category (maybe even add a new one) the default category stays checked. The user has to make an extra click to uncheck the default category and it also requires attention not to miss this.
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Thank you for testing! Updates to the “Edit” button and the add new category flow are being discussed. Great feedback!
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Thank you to everyone who participated in early Editor testing! You are all awesome. 🙂
The Editor has launched: Introducing: Our New, High-Speed Editor.
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