Dan Antion

It’s Broken…or is it? – #1LinerWeds

They are starting to build a hotel between this Magnolia and the rising sun.

I had two reasons for spreading my WordPress-issues update across two blog posts. First, the issues seem to overlap, but they really don’t – not seeing the ‘Like’ button has nothing to do with the editor the post was created in – Guttenberg is off the hook for that. Second, my experience dealing with the Guttenberg galleries issues made me think of a great one-liner, and third…OK, I guess I had three reasons. Combining them would have made for a very long post, and Monday’s post was already too long..

While I feel like I had some success with the issue of the ‘Like’ button (they tagged it as a bug), I had no such luck when it comes to the galleries in Guttenberg. I went through the same process. I wrote an explanation, I sent screen shots, I even sent two short videos showing how the captions appear in a Classic Gallery as you hover over them and how in Guttenberg…nothing. I thought I was making progress when I received a reply stating that they had been able to see and understand the issue I was reporting. Then they said:

“…I replicated your steps in a testing site and the galleries from Gutenberg blocks are different from the classic editor.

It seems that’s not really an issue since it seems it’s a design decision. So, in this case, if you want to have that specific display on your galleries, I’d recommend using the classic block.”

Which sounds to me like the classic tech-guy response:

“That’s not a bug, it’s a feature!”

In moving forward on this issue, I posted two issues to the Guttenberg repository on Github and I created two videos to demonstrate the issues:

1) The Captions in the mosaic images do not show when you hover the cursor over them. – Since this appears to be a design choice, I asked them to consider changing it. (Hover video)

2) The Descriptions do not always appear when you click on an image to enter the gallery slideshow. – I reported this as a bug, because even if you resize the gallery window, the descriptions move down as the image grows. (Description video)

Note: I capitalized ‘captions’ and ‘descriptions’ because those are the two fields by which you can describe an image in WordPress, but galleries built in the Classic editor/blocks show the captions while Guttenberg shows the descriptions. One nice thing is that the descriptions can be formatted to include links and other HTML tags. Captions are plain text (although you can add your own HTML).

While I don’t have great news to report, I have had some activity on item #2. I will keep you informed of any progress. However, there is some good news:

If the images you include in a Guttenberg gallery don’t have a “Title” OR if the title is the image filename blahblah.jpg or blahblah.png, Guttenberg ignores the title field and shows the Description field high enough in the gallery to be seen by your readers. However, if you give your photo a custom title, your description may not be visible in the slideshow.

Also, you can build a gallery in a Classic Block in Guttenberg that will behave like the galleries created in the Classic editor. You can see an example of this in the post I have been modifying to test and communicate with the engineers.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants. The images in the “Classic” gallery below are from the spring like days we’ve been having.

For those who couldn’t find Smokey on Monday.
For those who couldn’t find Smokey on Monday.
Welcome back!
The lobby of our building from the sunny side.
They are starting to build a hotel between this Magnolia and the rising sun.
This might be the last year we see early AM sunrise on these bushes.
The Magnolias are in bloom. These don’t last long but they’re beautiful.
The Magnolias are the first to bloom.
Forsythia are popping out.
Pouring – we got about 1.5″(4cm) of rain on Monday.
Rain and thunderstorms.
Sorry. I had to fast for blood work, so I stopped for breakfast on the way to work.
“Did I leave a wake-up call for today?”
“Are you going to just stand there? I need to be brushed.”
Happy pup! We’re going to sit for a while.
Smokey snagged a peanut.
No shade yet, but it’s coming.
Smokey is reminding me that I have to clean up those leaves (I did).

96 comments

    • Thanks GP – As I was taking these pictures, I realized we’ll never see the sunrise through these blossoms again. Oh well, I won’t be here anyway, this is outside where I work. 4-story hotel going up.

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  3. I loved reading of your interactions with the tech people and their use of the term “design decision.” Maybe I am change-resistant, but every time a company issues a new software version, I spin my wheels trying to figure out how to do the things that were easy to do in the previous version. The worst thing, as you discovered, is that sometimes you simply can no longer produce the same results or that it requires some elaborate, time-wasting workaround. It reminds me of the crust old joke asking how many Microsoft engineers it takes to change a light bulb. The answer is “None–they simply declare darkness as the system standard.” On a more positive note, it’s great to see spring arriving there. I have a fondness for forsythias, which grew in my yard when I was growing up.

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    • Thanks Mike. I’ve taken away my share of favorite pieces of software in my career, but not the stuff I wrote. It’s pretty easy to see how very many people are using the tiled galleries, and the comments about “missing captions” – why have a “Caption” field if you’re not going to display it? I remember that joke, and I’m not sure it wasn’t just the truth hiding as a joke.

      Blossoms are breaking out and things are turning green all over the place, up here. It’s a beautiful spring (which we haven’t had for two years).

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  4. I am saving all of these posts for when I am finally forced to switch to Gutenberg. For now, I’m resisting. Thanks for all the spring photos. I especially loved the breakfast one. Since my last bloodwork revealed high cholesterol, eggs are off my diet. I vicariously enjoyed yours!

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    • Thanks Laurie. I just had blood work done, and eggs are still on the menu (in moderation, I really don’t eat like this every day).

      I figure, if Guttenberg is still an active project, I might as well make my opinion and observations known.

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  5. “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature!”

    Ha! That’s what the gallery situation sounds like. You may have some IT guys who don’t like being told their really cool design is not that cool after all. I hope you can get them to change this feature of Guttenberg before the HE’s drive you to drink or another after-fast breakfast.

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    • Thanks Mary. I’m sure someone is impressed with the clean, crisp look of the gallery sans captions. Then again, sometimes, people like to know what they’re looking at. It’s crazy, because they still have a field called “Caption” but they don’t show it.

      If they keep this up, I’m going to need the engineer to drive me home after drinking.

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    • I was sad when I realized this is the last spring when we will see that. There are already two hotels in this business park – they don’t seem full, but I get it. It’s a build-able lot, so…

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  8. Yay – you’re making progress. I found out that the online free chat option with the Happiness Engineers is closed, “Unfortunately currently this is closed due to a high number of support requests that we are dealing with, but we expect to re-open it as soon as possible!” So, you making progress this far, is outstanding! Way to go! In the meantime, your country music songwriting seems to be taking off well! Nice work!

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    • Thanks Shelley. Maybe I’ll team up with Gibbs again to write the “Guttenberg Gallery Blues.” I know it’s silly, but I would think that when you have more people asking questions than you have technicians to answer, you would hire more technicians. Taking the phone off the hook works too, I guess. At least I have an open line and a ticket number. I’ll keep trying.

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  9. Your one-liner is a concept I’ve begun to apply to people. It’s fun and useful to do so. As for the mess that is known as Guttenberg I’m holding off on it. I don’t need more bugs in my life.

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  10. Well, it sounds like your persistence with the HE is beginning to pay off. Good for you for not giving up.

    Magnolias and forsythia are beautiful. So sad that the gorgeous spring blossoms only last a short time.

    The three M’s would capture anyone’s heart. And now we have Smokey vying for camera time. Before you know it, he”ll have an agent! Great shot of the Robin. We seem to have more robins than usual this year, and they are very large. Spring is finally springing here…. I almost applaud each time I see yet another perennial poking through.

    Happy Hump Day Dan.
    🐾Ginger 🐾

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    • Thanks Ginger. The Robins do all look like they partied hard down south. Maybe they thought the flight up here would be good exercise, but they landed plump. Smokey is getting into the action more and more. He’s just so darn cute. When he stands, he looks like a little bear.

      We’re waiting for Lilacs and Dogwoods at home, but I’m enjoying everything I see. They don’t last long, but they are a nice change from bare trees outlined with snow.

      I hope the rest of your week is easy.

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  12. I have been through so many editors in my life…enter WordPerfect. I can even remember the time when we used standalone word processors. CPT was the one we used. Ha!

    I blog directly in WordPress and when I tried Guttenberg I found it cumbersome. I will give them time to perfect it. Thanks for your tireless efforts.

    Our forsythia is no longer in bloom. The irises are blooming now and it won’t be long before the hydrangeas are blooming. We have white squirrels here whose origin is rumored to have started with squirrels that escaped from an overturned carnival wagon.

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    • Wow! I’ve only ever seen a white squirrel once, and that was in Pittsburgh when I was in grad school.

      I think creating a new post directly in Guttenberg would be frustrating for me. I work in Word (sorry, I’m the guy who switched our company away from WordPerfect – some still hate me for that). I’m used to blcks, I understand blocks, but I prefer an open flowing canvas.

      Like you, I have gotten used to many different editors, both for documents and for programming. I guess I’ll get used to Guttenberg…eventually.

      Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  15. Horsefeathers, Dan. Between work and WordPress, you’ve been having a heck of a time. Thanks for persevering and showing us marvelous photos.
    You know I loved seeing the kitties — and Maddie and the other critters. That shot of the water droplets on the window is truly beautiful.
    “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature” — LOL, yes, that sounds familiar. Reminds me of my workplace, “It’s not a $10 million mistake — it’s a huge success!”
    Happy hump day. Great big hug!

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  16. WordPress has its own issues but I still find WP better than other options. Honestly, I was happy with the free site but I wanted to turn this into a business. Hence, I got paid website, but I went through so much trouble soon after that. So far I have spent 50K in Indian currency on the site (that’s USD 720 as per today’s exchange rate). This includes the hosting and development and troubleshooting and I haven’t earn a single dime.

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  18. You have the patience of a saint, Dan. The rest of us will owe you big time if you get them to reconsider some of these design choices before we’re dragged over to the dark side…

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  20. I spotted Smokey, and love the reflected branches in the puddle, oh, those golden sunlit mornings…glorious!

    I’m hanging onto the Classic for as long as I can. Hopefully, you’ll help them get the bugs worked out so the features won’t have much to complain about.

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  21. Thanks for doing the trial run with Guttenburg. I think I will not use it until I hear from you the all clear. I am going around checking if the ‘like’ feature is loading normally on some of the blogs including yours and mine. So far I think it is working ok with Firefox and Chrome. Fingers crossed.

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  24. It’s hard not to want to declare “Just wake me when they’ve fixed it!” Sometimes I wonder if any of these Happiness Engineers have actually used WordPress from the front end. They tend to lurk around the back and wonder why people don’t like the new addition. Because it looks ugly from the street, that’s why.
    Smokey was easy to find. I mean, there was a big black lump in the tree.

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  25. Oh, Dan…..thankfully the captions under the 3 M’s are working just fine. I am so electronically challenged…waiting for them to stick me with Guttenberg scares the dickens out of me. And I don’t even write very much! Please don’t be surprised if you have a line of people at your blog saying, “Hey Dan, can you help me with this?”

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  27. The blocks sound like a head-ache to me – I’m impressed you like to go through all that work!! Smiled about “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature!” I can just hear the techie say it!!
    Love your blooming trees, and the reflection in the water, Of course, Maddie can’t be missed:):)

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  28. Is Guttenberg the name for the changes in how images and text is edited in a WordPress.com site online ir is it only for a WordPress.org site? I’ve been using the old WP software on my Windows PC to create posts because I don’t like the new online editing interface.

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  29. If I was not sure about Gutenberg, you have made me very sure to stay away. Love the photos, but rather sad about the hotel going up behind the tree. Such a pretty sunrise. You must be on the northern edge of the ever-gorgeous magnolia. Best to you, Dan.

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    • Thanks Jennie. If they made these minor adjustments to Guttenberg, I’d be happy to use it. I prefer the Classic editor, but I’d make the switch sooner than later. I just can’t deal with these galleries, especially since so many of my readers are here for the pictures.

      Those trees are outside my office, so I won’t be here to be sad when they put up that new hotel.

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  30. I just learned something new – I didn’t know I could build a gallery in Gutenberg. I don’t use photo galleries very often, but when I posted one today, I assumed it was still unavailable in the new editor so I switched. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll have to give it a try.

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  31. Smokey is just a wood knot! Haha! Darn Chromebook.
    I cannot believe they’re building between the magnolia and the horizon! What a tragedy! Gah. That shot is beautiful, like hang on the wall beautiful!
    I am now, 6 years in, very sad I didn’t label each and every photo ever uploaded. Live and learn. Glad you’re working out these issues with the new editor, not to be confused with THE Editor.

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    • Hahaha – I have no issues with The Editor. Smokey can be very hard to see in the morning. He blends right in and he wraps himself in his tail. I’m sad about the hotel, but I won’t be there to see it, anyway. It was easy for me to describe the images. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s harder to get me to stop talking. Enjoy the weekend!

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  32. Hi Dan. Yikes, help. I can’t access my WordPress accounts. I have been working with a volunteer I think and nothing is working. I cleared out my cache on Firefox this morning and don’t know if that is what did it but I can’t access my account with chrome browser either. ( I did not clear out my Chrome browser catch) My photo ID is popping up here I see. So part of this site knows it’s me.

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    • I had a lot of trouble this morning, accessing sites from my iPhone. I couldn’t like anything or post a comment without logging in. Each time, I was told that another user had my email. I hope you get this figured out for your account.

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  33. OMG, another user had your email? They sent me a message from WordPress what my email was listed as and said I can now try to reset my password and sign in etc. I tried that, it didn’t work, and locked me out for at least 30 minutes. I hope I get it figured out so I can access my blogs/accounts again.

    Liked by 1 person

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