I’m sure I must be imagining it. After all, it seems like everything these days annoys me and I have indeed become just another crabby old woman. So I ask you: Is WordPress deluging us with newsletters full of helpful blogging tips? And is it all just a ploy to show us how “helpful” they are in order to distract us from what they did to our image editor? Maybe I’m imagining that those helpful tips are coming in almost daily. Beginner tips, too. Not the kind that help advanced users (that would be those of us complaining about the image editor).
The image editor remains crippled and it’s obvious WP has no intention of returning it to its former configuration. Which annoys me no end. Nay, infuriates me. (I recently spent 45 minutes figuring out how to put a green border on something; previously it would have taken about a minute.) Complaints in the forum — okay, to be fair, “comments” — have reached 15 pages and are still being posted.
Interestingly, the bloggers over at WordPress.org who’ve just been introduced to the “new and improved” image editor don’t seem to like it either. One thread of complaints that started there just yesterday garnered 30 entries before being shut down. As in, door slammed. Apparently WP is tired of listening to complaints. There’s an easy way to fix that …
No, WP, I haven’t forgotten what you did. And yes, I’m still angry. Given the uproar, the very least you could do is offer an explanation of sorts. Eg: “We’re sorry, but the change was necessary to make WordPress compatible with all available platforms.” See how easy that is? And it wouldn’t cost you a dime.
(For the record, though, I still don’t believe serious bloggers blog on mobile devices.)
Yea, I just got the new one yesterday myself but as of yet have not made a post or dealt with any graphics. I did look over the new ‘sidebar’ interface. Seemed alright on the surface but didn’t give it a thorough checkout. I’m sure I will be back in touch… 🙂
I don’t have a blog on .org. Too lazy to fool with it. More options and flexibility just means more ways for me to screw things up. By all means post your thoughts here. And bring your friends. (I’ll provide the beer.) I won’t be slamming the door on comments.
I could never understand why WordPress is so popular when there are other, more user friendly blog hosts to choose from. I prefer a WYSIWYG site with a nice blank canvas with which to work on. I also appreciate a host that listens to its subscribers, take mine for instance. A few months ago Yola.com tried to make some drastic changes to it format. They released a beta edition and asked people to switch over. After a couple of weeks and after receiving so many complaints, they dropped their plans and went back to their old format. Maybe its time WordPress did the same.
I left Blogger and came to WP about 7 years ago. I forget the details, but the primary reason was a much better selection of themes and the ability to make my blog look exactly the way I want. The latest flap has had me looking half-heartedly for alternatives and quite frankly I’ve yet to see anything else that even comes close. I’m not familiar with Yola; I’ll have to check it out.
By the way, WordPress does include a blank canvas if that’s what you like. For “Distraction Free Writing,” click the lonesome icon in the upper right corner of the toolbar on your editing page. You’ll get a clean white screen with a disappearing toolbar at the top.
WordPress has, on occasion, abandoned changes that were notably unpopular or, more accurately, that they determined weren’t working satisfactorily. I’d hoped that might happen this time, but apparently not.
I’m with you, Susan: this is an issue that has ALWAYS needed to be addressed by Automattic and never has been. It’s the worst example of customer relations I’ve experienced.
Well then count your blessings. WordPress ranks far above many companies I’ve dealt with — starting with America’s “favorite,” Comcast.
One HEARS of tons and tons, but I can only speak of those I’ve experienced …
I don’t think a single one of the companies I deal with cares even a little bit about the concerns of their customers. At least my WordPress account is free. Besides, I’ve jumped platforms once and only a major calamity will make me do it again. Although I may end up creating a new one here when I reach my media capacity.
I use XnView for all my image editing needs. I just wish I could use it to search for previously uploaded images I’d like to use again! 🙂
Good customer service is becoming increasingly rare. So much so that when I get it, I’ll go out of my way and even pay more to keep patronizing that business.
Images previously uploaded to where? Most of those I’ve downloaded for use on WordPress are still in my image files on my computer.
Images I’ve uploaded from my PC to WordPress. I do still have most of them on my PC, but uploading them again is a waste of my ever shrinking media capacity.
Must be getting late. I’m not understanding why you’d need to upload all of them again …
The point was, I wouldn’t have to upload an image I’d like to use again if WordPress made it easier to find the copy I’ve already uploaded. I try to give them memorable names, but memory doesn’t help when I’ve uploaded so many. The Media Library doesn’t even allow me to search by type of image!
If you remember which post it was in, you could get the name from there. That’s what I sometimes resort to.
I’ve been blogging on WP both .com and .org for years and they don’t like criticism. To me, that’s the long and short of it. They decide how things are going to be and that’s it. If you persist in complaining, you get labeled a trouble maker and they either ban you from the forums or just ignore you.
Personally, I use other sites (like monkeypic) to tweak photos/graphics and then upload them onto the blog. In my opinion WP never really offered that much wiggle room on stuff like that anyway.
The thing that is good about WP is that you can blog without having to use html or knowing any code, there are a lot of free themes and they do make it easy for you to start without knowing anything really.
Chances are, there is some plugin (there are thousands) that you could find that would give you that extra functionality with your photos/graphics. It’s probably easier than trying to get WP to admit a mistake and change things back (which I’ve never known them to do, ever).
Anyway, my two cents.
Annie
I realize those of us complaining about this are a miniscule portion of all WordPress users, so I don’t expect to be heard or heeded. Knowing that frustrates me.
Image margins and borders are set with HTML. That’s the whole point. We didn’t have to mess with it before. Now we do. Or at least, those of us who obsess about such details do. Most WP.com users are probably content to accept their default theme settings.