: do not enter :

You don’t want to see this, I promise. Things are gonna get ugly around here and probably quit working altogether. Or wind up badly broken, at best.

You see, I’m getting ready to gut this place — from top to bottom — and start fresh. No more header, no more footer, no more sidebars. No widgets or milestones or badges. No pages, either. Just posts. Maybe an occasional image or two. Or maybe just images, with an occasional word. We’ll see.

This is my last resort. Trying to assemble a post using this editor is my Waterloo, time after time, and it sucks all the joy out of writing. So rather than rage against the domineering, unforgiving tyranny of the block format, I’ve decided to embrace it for the grid it is and start over. With a new theme. I’ve narrowed my choices to two, both of them single column affairs with wide margins for an über clean, über minimal look. Airy and uncluttered is a look I can live happily ever after with. Probably.

If not, well, I hear good things about substack.

So go away. Come back in a couple weeks (or months) and see what you think. If there’s nothing here but wreckage, you’ll know I went down swinging.

Wish me luck.

11 responses to “: do not enter :”

Hugh W. Roberts

March 26, 2023 at 8:37 am

I found that the more I used the Block Editor, the more I liked it. I set up a draft test post and spent a few minutes a day playing with the blocks. You don’t need to use them all. Most users use just the paragraph and image blocks. Another user told me that, ‘it’s not hard to use, just different.’ They were right.

Hope you’re doing ok with it. Keep going.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. the whirly girl
  
  March 26, 2023 at 7:51 pm
  
  To be honest, I’m still struggling, but your advice is probably the best I’ve received. Fiddling around with all the blocks is a genius idea❣️ The problem is, I tend to forget what’s what in the gaps between posting, then have to start from scratch all over again. It’s frustrating, progress is glacially slow, but I can’t quit now. Thank you for the encouragement :o)
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Reply
SilkPurseProductions

December 27, 2022 at 7:45 am

I’m scared for you. This new block format sucks! I may have to wait it out and see how you do. You can be the canary we send down into the shaft.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. the whirly girl
  
  December 27, 2022 at 9:40 pm
  
  😆 So far, so good. Sort of. The good news is, the new editor offers more options to finesse things a bit. You can size the type, control the margins, disable features you don’t like. Sadly, I needed wp support to show me how to do these things, but once they did, everything got easier. I’m still crashing around, trying stuff out, thinking maybe I’ll try yet another theme –this one is fine, just kind of meh. But oy! Do I really want to?
  
  LikeLiked by 1 person
  
  Reply
Robert

December 23, 2022 at 2:44 pm

Out with the old, in with the new…

Good Luck!

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. the whirly girl
  
  December 23, 2022 at 3:31 pm
  
  Exactly. I do this every, oh, five years or so. Plus, I’m hoping the age of this theme causes some of the problems with the editor. Thanks for the luck, I need it.
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
2. Robert
  
  December 23, 2022 at 3:57 pm
  
  🎁🎄🙏
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
stoneyfish

December 23, 2022 at 2:43 pm

Good luck, Whirly. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. See you on the other side.

LikeLiked by 1 person

Reply
1. the whirly girl
  
  December 23, 2022 at 3:27 pm
  
  You will! And thanks, I need all the luck I can get .
  
  LikeLike
  
  Reply
  1. StraddleTheTurtle.com
    
    December 26, 2022 at 9:45 pm
    
    Good luck! Every post is a challenge for me. I spent considerable time watching tutorials for my most recent one 😣
    
    LikeLiked by 1 person
    
    Reply
    1. the whirly girl
      
      December 26, 2022 at 11:48 pm
      
      I know. It shouldn’t be this flipping complicated.
      
      LikeLike
      
      Reply