WordPress 6.0 has been warmly welcomed by many users, and it appears that the feedback on 6.0 is one of the smoothest rollouts. There have been some reports of plugin conflicts, but overall, opinions seem to vary based on the WordPress community’s response.
Over 36% of sites have been updated
according to WordPress Documentationto date, 36.2% of WordPress sites have been updated within two weeks of the release of WordPress 6.0.
Nearly 20% of the user base is still using WordPress version 5.9.
Source: WordPress.orgWordPress 6.0 Arturo is a version change, which means it is being updated from the 5.x development branch to the 6.x branch.
To some users, this might seem scary, since version changes for most things, like new phone models, usually mean radical changes.
But that’s not the case with WordPress 6.0.
Like previous version updates, version 6.0 represents an incremental update that arguably focuses on making the experience of creating a website more intuitive and accessible.
However, some users are bound to feel wary of updating, and that’s not entirely unreasonable.
Advanced WordPress users
In the Advanced WordPress Facebook group (a group of developers), the general tone of the discussion was mostly a pragmatic acceptance that Gutenberg isn’t ready yet, with some saying they’ll wait a little longer before adopting the platform for customers to release until Gutenberg Fort is more powerful and stable.
in a 107 posts discussion of WordPress 6.0one member commented on the lack of adequate documentation, which is a valid criticism.
Among the more than 100 comments posted on this Facebook group, the take on WordPress Arturo is that it’s a huge step forward, acknowledging important progress for 6.0.
One member of the group praised the block tree update, and another said the editor felt smoother overall.
The last observation about editor fluency is interesting because one of the goals of WordPress 6.0 is to make it more intuitive to use.
Reactions on Reddit
The reactions on Reddit were more opinionated than the conversations in the Facebook group of private premium WordPress users.
a member named sdenike post that they are happy Edit with Gutenberg:
“As the sole editor, I’ve been using Gutenberg for over a year and haven’t encountered some of the issues/concerns others have on their site…”
But the comment was met with a response expressing the opposite experience, with one member observing that WordPress got worse.
Why would anyone say that the new version of WordPress core is worse than the previous version?
WP 6.0 was tested by many members of the WordPress community before it was released, so it wasn’t because WordPress released an inferior product.
Most likely, the update feels worse due to conflicts with outdated plugins or themes.
Although 6.0 is designed for backward compatibility, some conflicts with plugins and themes are almost inevitable.
So it might be useful to make sure all plugins and themes are up to date before blaming WordPress core.
Possible plugin and theme conflicts
Redditor afr0flava posted a strange error This renders a blank page for the edit screen.
“My Edit Post page is blank on Chrome since the update!
Another Redditor, laserpoint, Commented on how sensible alignment is different Updated.
“I just want the alignment of text and paragraphs. How did it get deleted?”
In another discussion, a Redditor asked a Questions about performance degradation After updating to WordPress 6.0.
“Hi, I’m using WordPress 6.0 and I’m trying to investigate why my site isn’t behaving well. I enabled debugging in wp-config.php and I found something (missing PHP library).”
The user detailed that the client site is working fine, it’s just that it’s running slowly, and they need help identifying which plugin is conflicting with the new version of WordPress.
Possible bug in WordPress 6.0?
Another Redditor came up with an interesting (and apparently isolated) about content alignment.
Member Stinky Weezle, Comment:
“This is great, but all my column containers are now vertically centered by default with a 2em gap between them.
If you don’t set vertical alignment, they change all fallbacks, but they still appear top aligned in the editor until you click each block.
Now have to upgrade lock 150 sites until I find a “don’t crack core” fix to change the fallback. “
Gutenberg still faces resistance from classic editors
As mentioned above, nearly 20% of WordPress users are still not transitioning from 5.9 to 6.0.
A recent thread on Reddit may partially explain why.
A Redditor named prankster999 expressed their preference for the classic editor over Gutenberg. They don’t explain why they’re used to anything other than the classic editor.
“Am I the only one who likes Classic Editor over Block Editor?
I know the “block editor” is an attempt to make WordPress look and function more like Medium.
But “classic editors” are more traditional in sites like Reddit and forums like Xenforo. “
others, such as rockycse21, agreeand points out that the classic editor is more “reliable”.
They don’t explain what they mean by reliable, but it could be interpreted as a comment on how the classic editor is a finished product that behaves the way it’s supposed to, while Gutenberg is unfinished and doesn’t provide a feel of classic due to its novelty The familiarity provided by the editor.
So the comfort of using existing equipment may explain some of the reluctance to upgrade. Why fix something that isn’t broken, right?
editor picard102 offered their opinion Many users dislike Gutenberg very much:
“You’re not alone. There are a lot of people who despise block editors.”
This is a bit extreme but not uncommon. There is still resistance to adoption of Gutenberg.
Higgs-B observed It’s true that the Gutenberg editor isn’t quite ready yet.
“Unfortunately, the block/Gutenberg editor is not mature enough for non-coders.”
WordPress 6.0
The most important thing to remember about the latest version of WordPress is that it is an incremental update, not a radical update. Also, it is designed to be backward compatible. This means that it still works for server environments using PHP versions lower than 7.4 (down to PHP 5.6), although 7.4 is the minimum recommended version.
An important point to consider is that WordPress 6.0, like 5.9 before it, currently only has Provides beta support for PHP 8.0.
Users updating to PHP version 8.0 may experience incompatibility issues.
Before updating, it’s a good idea to backup your entire WordPress site and database so that if anything goes wrong, the site can be restored to its previous state.
Knowing about all of these things beforehand might save you from having to go through some of the bugs and weirdness that some users reported.
Overall, the WordPress community’s reaction to WordPress 6.0 is that it’s been a smooth update.
