After a series of more than 5 beta versions, the WordPress 5.0 Release Candidate was rolled out last weekend. According to Gutenberg stats, more than 1.1 million WordPress websites have now installed the Gutenberg plugin. Besides, over 980,000 blog posts were written with the new editor. But these are still modest estimates because only WordPress.com sites and sites that run Jetpack are included. In reality, the figures are even higher. But there are still a lot of Gutenberg critics who think that Gutenberg is far from ready for an official introduction.
Planning WordPress 5.0
The changes to the Release Candidate are described in Gutenberg’s 4.5 release post last week. An update that was published yesterday shows that 12 PRs are waiting for review. There are 14 issues open for the 5.0.0 milestone, and more than 150 for 5.0.1 and subsequent versions.
The official release date for WordPress 5.0 was scheduled for November 27 but was postponed after a thorough review. A new release date has not yet been announced. We do know that many people have made a substantial effort to delay the release to January. The feedback on the RC is currently being monitored. On this basis, the team will decide on a new release date.
Mullenweg reacts to Gutenberg critics
Matt Mullenweg took the past weekend to respond to the Gutenberg critics on Twitter, who voiced their concerns about his leadership and communication during the development process of WordPress 5.0. The discussion was mainly fueled by a specific blog post entitled “Let’s take a very serious look at Gutenberg,” written by WordPress developer Cameron Jones. Jones urged Mullenweg to revise his “vision of WordPress.” Mullenweg responds with a description of the problems that many people who start publishing on WordPress are confronted with, the people who fail.
“Gutenberg strives to solve these problems, improve the WP experience for all users, and open an independent, open source publication on the web for a group of users who previously could not deal with WordPress.
It may seem rushed for people who are not accustomed to this pace of development and improvement in the WordPress world. But this pace has been sustained for almost two years now, and we still seem slow compared to other modern software. The rate of iteration is made possible by the new technology. “
Mullenweg says that he does not want to stop any user experience that will significantly improve the publishing process, as well as the success of dozens or hundreds of millions of users.
“If we look back on this in three or five years, it will all seem very strange. It’s a tricky transition, but the basis that Gutenberg creates is worth it. ”
Matt responded directly to feedback
Mullenweg’s extensive answers on Twitter show that he would like to keep the communication lines open during the process. He also indicated that he plans to spend more time responding directly to feedback.
“One thing I’m going to try: I will release a number of office hours next week so people can talk to me directly,” said Mullenweg. “I want everyone to be listened to, and everyone feels that they are being listened to, as has been the case since the start of this process in 2016.”
If you are like me, and you are ready to fight with teeth and nails just to leave the current editor in place and keep Gutenberg at bay – you may join the heavy discussion on Twitter about the Gutenberg criticism. Just judging by the rating on Gutenberg’s release page, it is obvious that the vast majority of users absolutely dislike it…