stop New Classic Editor Addon Plugin Disables the “Try Gutenberg” Prompt Coming in WordPress 4.9.8 design tips
photo credit: Hermes Rivera

Gutenberg development continues along the roadmap Matt Mullenweg announced at WordCamp Europe with WordPress 4.9.8 set to introduce a “Try Gutenberg” prompt to increase usage and testing. Core design contributors are currently working on a few new iterations of the callout. They are also considering including a section inside the prompt with an option to install the Classic Editor plugin in preparation for Gutenberg.

Developers and agencies have time to install the Classic Editor on client sites that are not ready for Gutenberg, but this will not prevent users from seeing the “Try Gutenberg” prompt. Greg Schoppe, one of Gutenberg’s most outspoken critics, partnered with Pieter Bos to develop a plugin called Classic Editor Addon that changes how the Classic Editor plugin works.

“For agencies supporting many sites, whose users have no way of knowing whether Gutenberg will break their site or not, this nag screen is a danger,” Schoppe commented on our most recent Gutenberg update. “Pre-emptively installing Classic Editor unfortunately won’t suppress the nag notice either, but since Classic Editor is being used as a bellwether of the success of Gutenberg, it’s important that you install it, if you expect issues.”

Schoppe co-wrote the Classic Editor Addon to solve this problem. It suppresses the “Try Gutenberg” prompt and when the new editing experience ships in 5.0, it will automatically suppress Gutenberg as well.

Since the Classic Editor plugin doesn’t remove Gutenberg by default, the addon plugin sets the option to fully replace Gutenberg. It also removes the Classic Editor’s options from the Settings > Writing screen. Schoppe said he believes this is what the Classic Editor plugin should have done out of the box, instead of requiring the user to find the settings screen to replace Gutenberg.

Installing both the Classic Editor and Classic Editor Addon on tens or hundreds of client sites could be time consuming, so Schoppe suggests using a site management dashboard, such as MainWP, ManageWP, or Jetpack, to bulk install both plugins for clients.

According to stats on WordPress.org, Gutenberg is active on more than 10,000 sites and the Classic Editor is active on 4,000+ sites. The “Try Gutenberg” prompt is expected to go out in WordPress 4.9.8, which is targeted for the end of July. The goal for the prompt is to make users aware of the plugin and get more testers involved before Gutenberg lands in WordPress 5.0.