(WUWT readers, please excuse this distraction while I holler at WUWT’s hosting provider, wordpress.com. As Willis would say, “my blood is mightily angrified”.)
I have generally been supportive of most wordpress.com upgrades, for example the recent upgrade to allow the top editor bar to float with scrolling is a HUGE time saver.
Unfortunately, the new Beep Beep Boop “upgrade” is a crash-and-burn moment in user interface design.
Top 10 reasons the new WordPress Beep Boop Boob editor is a stunning failure.
1. It turns a process that used to take 1-2 seconds into something that takes several seconds, sometimes as long as 30 seconds. My timing this morning was 17 seconds to get the create a new post dialog. A second attempt took 32 seconds after I cleared the crash dialog (see below).
2. It is visually annoying. It makes me want to scream at the screen while it takes all those extra seconds to load, seen below.
The reason for the “beep beep boop” is that whoever programed it, realized it takes longer, and they needed something to let the end user know the program was doing something. Classic bloatware failure.
3. It makes wordpress.com seem juvenilized.
4. It is inconsistent with the rest of the wp.com user experience. For example, no “beep boop” appears when you try to create a new page.
5. It presents a smaller editor than we used to get, which isn’t fully representative of the CSS settings for width of your theme.
6. It was foisted on us with no warning. And this is the thing I hate the most, many of these “upgrades” just appear overnight. Microsoft learned this lesson of just foisting unwanted upgrades on end users without notice and allows you to opt-out. You should learn this lesson too. New is not always better.
7. It crashes:
8. The “Welcome to an easier way to create on WordPress.com! Missing the old editor? No worries, just switch to classic mode. “ feature doesn’t seem to “stick”.
9. It comes up in text editor mode, more work, more wait to switch to visual editor mode.
10. Whenever I accidentally stumble on it now, I realize my mistake and back out of it, and find the correct link to bring up the real editor. When users actively work to avoid using a new piece of software, because it wastes time, annoys them, and crashes, you know you have a MEGAFAIL on your hands.
Whoever came up with this idea, along with the person who approved implementing it deserves a virtual 2×4 upside the head to knock some sense into them.
For me, it may be the tipping point to abandon wordpress.com and go to a paid service where I at least can control my own user experience by choosing not to install inane upgrades.
UPDATE 8/27/14 :
WordPress seemed oblivious, but I and many others continued to bombard them with emails, posts, phone calls, and anything we could do to tell them how bad this change was.
Today, all of the sudden, things were back to normal, and this appeared above the editor page:
That “new and improved posting experience” aka the “beep boop” editor, is corp-speak for “we took this turkey out back and shot it in the head”.
Two thoughts:
1. Users win. Lesson to WordPress – trust your users.
2. Thank you WordPress for finally seeing the light
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“Classic bloatware failure.”
You need to send feedback about that. I do software development for a living, and when we’re deciding what to do, we pretty much look at numbers of user requests and prioritize off that. If enough people are saying, “this is slow and janky,” that bubbles to the top. And you have to get heard because simplifying and streamlining code (paying off “tech debt”) takes time.
I don’t have as much experience as you with the Boop Editor. One encounter was enough for me and I stopped doing my blog and have since done nothing but complaints there using the now-crippled editor we all once had as the default. I’ve been with WordPress since 2006. There have been bumps, but this is just a disaster and their failure to roll back is frustrating (to say the least!).
Hmm — don’t see it, fortunately. Runs on java-script so gets denied by Firefox’s NoScript, which is a lifesaver & vastly speeds up page-loading.
You have described Windows f***ing 8. It was meant to work for mouse-less touch screens on tablet-like devices and computers. But most of us still buy a mouse and notebooks with mouse pads and buttons. The interface results in a maddening rate of unintended deletes with no ability to recover, and sudden switches and flips from what I am working on to the [cough, hack, gag] tiled “easy access” full screen program menu. I hate it more than anything computer related I have ever worked on. I cut my teeth on the operating system of a WANG and would gladly go back to it if Windows f***ing 8 was my only other choice.
Pamela, this free fixit is how I tolerate Windows effing 8. Get it, don’t look back.
http://www.classicshell.net/
“3. It makes wordpress.com seem juvenilized.”
That seems to be the directions ALL websites are going – even my bank, fercryin’outloud..
The kindergarten inmates are running the asylum. >:-(
I have been commenting here for several years. This new version of wordpress is a pain in the ass. I just spent ten minutes logging into wordpress so a comment could be posted. Instead it took me to a ‘dashboard’. It also changes my user name to a truncation of my email rather than my full name which I have always posted under. No more comments from me with this ridiculous software. Steve Keohane
I agree. Windows 8. A total effing nightmare. Thanks for the fix Anthony. I don’t have Windows 8 yet but I guess it will be unavoidable eventually.
One wonders if this had anything to do with the appearance of the mystery “like” button a short while back?
Windows 8.1 is fine as long as you are using Windows 7 /sarc
In addition to a Windows 7 box, I have three identical XP boxes all configured to the same hardware standard, one of which is always in continuous use. With any luck, at least one of them will remain functional until I breath my last breath.
Here is a question for the WUWT readership: Is one of the reasons why Chinese engineers are more productive than American engineers is that most of their desktop applications still rely on user-friendly Windows XP?
I’ve been in IT for over 30 years. This is what you get by hiring recent college grads who think they are smarter than the rest of the world and management who thinks cheaper labor is better.
Thank you, Anthony. I was going to email you about it.
I also HATE the Beep Beep Boop editor.
It locks up one of my browsers and it’s slow with the other,
Let me repeat myself for WordPress: I HATE the Beep Beep Boop editor.
Please remove it as the default WordPress editor.
This latest change to the interface is mind-numbing and frustrating. Even at “free” its not worth it dealing with. Grey Enigma.
One of the curses of having an in-house software development staff is that they must keep developing or lose their jobs. The low-hanging fruit has long ago been picked in many applications but no developer ever got a raise for saying everything is just fine. Further incremental improvements will only carry you through one, or two at best) performance rating periods.
As an easy example, MS Word and Excel were probably at their optimal efficiency and ease of use around the year 2000. However the development team had to keep adding features that only professional editor -might- ever need (who wanted “Reading Pane”?) to be doing something, and them turned them on as default because no one would otherwise even know they existed. When that string ran out, it was time to change the interface, just ’cause.
Even creating a turd can be good for developers. Releasing a disaster is always first blamed on the discomfort of users with new features, but the disaster also has the perverse effect of increasing overtime, and creating a triumph for the team when they finally fix the problems.
The ultimate solution for Win8 for my wife (even after ClassicShell) was a Mac Airbook.
/angry crazyman rant.
Steve Jobs would have said, “Pay me now or pay me later.”
Ben — the process you describe for software roadmap/development is a recipe for ultimate failure. Back in the Netscape days, I had these same conversations with the product manager of a couple of products there, and saw a similar problem with what was once a successful operating system.
The problem is that you try to satisfy current customers by bending to their will. The product becomes more and more focused on their requirements. One day, you notice that you are not getting many (any) new customers, but product management still insist on asking existing customers what they want, without balancing it by going and asking people that decided not to buy why not. Of course, the second part is harder to do, and the answers are generally unwelcome, but if you want a future, you sometimes have to piss off (a little) existing customers.
In the worst case, you end up like Apollo. They made HUGE (and IMHO stupid) dptations to support their biggest customer. One day, they only really had that one huge customer left. Then that customer decided that they needed to change platform to one of the more ubiquitous ones. Guess what happened to Apollo (which was then owned by HP) and how fast.
Having said all of that, whatever changes you make, never just foist them on people with no warning, and public beta phase. Unfortunately most of WordPress seems to stuff that never really made it out of beta anyway.
Was it a mistake? Or did they do it to us on purpose?
Another example: iOS 7 is an entire software platform that was foisted on us overnight. It’s a shadow of iOS 6, just tinkering for the sake of tinkering and decimating what was a smooth and intuitive user interface. I know some people who have hacked their way back to iOS 6 but that will be a temporary fix because soon their apps won’t be supported.
You said it well. I also come from a development environment. You can always tell when I development team has been set loose without regard for real-world needs of users. The comparison to Windows 8 is valid. And poignant. You’d think WP might learn something from the others’ disasters, but apparently not. I would be seriously considering changing platforms if I could find a platform I don’t hate … or is so expensive I can’t even think about it. Maybe, in the end, they’ll just push me into giving up the whole thing. I’d rather not … but when a hobby becomes more angst than fun, it’s time to rethink.
Thanks for a professionally written piece. It would be nice if someone at WordPress read it. Many of us have written about this in the past few days, but I doubt they care. WP seems to be bent on doing their own thing without regard for customer satisfaction. Pity about that. Reminds me of DEC … Wang .. GTE … Where are they now?
As Anthony said, this new editor angrifies my blood mightily. I reverted immediately to the “Classic” editor … don’t’cha love a world where something we used yesterday is “classic” today? But as Anthony sez, it doesn’t stick, and come up with the Beep Beep Boop editor each time I return.
Fail. Epic fail.
w.
Ee Windows 8, you can still buy Windows 7 Business with the option to switch to 8 in the future, which is what I did recently wity my new Dell Latitude laptop. Lots of Dells come with that OS option, as do some other leading brands. I’ve read that W8 is pretty much W7 with the touch screen on top, making it difficult.
“WordPress Beep Boop Boob editor ”
So, what exactly needed to be edited on WordPress’s Boobs in the first place?
I use Windows Live Writer. It is simple to use, easy to paste images etc, and automatically published to WP at the press of the button
interesting that the classic editor doesn’t stick – according to a “staff” person in the second & third posts on this wordpress forum page http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/new-post-editor-improvements#post-1998366 – (1) the editor pane has been enlarged – and (2) the classic editor should “stick” once chosen – UNTIL you clear your cookies
Apparently it’s browser specific. It works on some, not on other. Not on Chrome.
one benefit of running WP on dedicated server, can update as you need and also run clone site to test updates.
downside is you are responsible for the server.
managed dedicated servers are expensive but they maintain the o/s and hardware for you, basically they are your businesses tech dept.