WordPress Updates
I am sure the majority of us have noticed the recent, updated look that WordPress has, well shoved in our faces. As someone who has a hard time adjusting to changes, at. first glance I hated the new WordPress updates. I was not on board with the new look. I always thought the old “classic” look was really cool. For someone who is slightly colourblind this new one confuses my eyes a little.
However, over time I was able to get more used to the changes and think about them rationally. I noticed some changes I liked and some I disliked. That made me think I should write a post about the WordPress updates and discuss them with you guys.
The Good
For the most part, my stats have been better after the updates. I feel like this update undid whatever the last update did that made my stats go south.
There are some new themes that WordPress is offering that I like. My theme is no longer offered which means they don’t update it anymore which again means I need to change my theme. I hate that because I feel like my theme is perfect for me right now. But I’m glad at least some good new themes are available.
That’s pretty much it for the good…
The Bad
First of all, I have to start by mentioning the glitches. I always know when WordPress is going to update something because my site starts glitching. And with each update comes more glitches. Some bloggers are complaining about sudden drops in their stats. Others are losing followers. Some people are being automatically unfollowed. I haven’t dealt with too many glitches *knock on wood.* I have dealt with some minor ones but luckily they went away on their own.
The Annoying
What I hate most about these updates is that they have not actually done anything to improve our experience as content creators on WordPress. When I first noticed the WordPress updates I thought there would finally be some positive changes. However, most of what they seem to have done is change the look but keep everything else exactly the same.
I find that really annoying because there are some genuine changes that WordPress needs to make to improve our experience on this platform. For, example, the number of themes offered are absolutely ridiculous. There need to be at least a hundred, especially for those with a paid plan. And talking of paid plans, they need to offer more affordable options with better features. And they need to offer more memory.
I would also love features like being able to edit comments. Being able to tag people in the comments of specific posts. A feature to see who unfollowed you. Those are just some off the top of my head.
I feel very ignored as a content creator on this platform. There are so many changes we could suggest to WordPress but they never really take us seriously. And when their needless updates cause glitches they just ignore them or gaslight us into believing there is nothing wrong.
Conclusion
Kudos to WordPress for making changes. However, it sucks that most of these changes were not needed and the changes that are needed have been ignored for years.
What do you think of the new WordPress updates? How do you think WordPress can improve our experience as content creators on this platform? Are you a fan of the new look? Did you prefer WordPress as it was? Let me know in the comments below because I would love to hear your thoughts. Or simply stop by and say hi!
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WordPress could definitely do better with their updates. I agree with everything you said and your suggestions as well.
You’d think they’d at-least put a poll and get more feedback on their updates lol the WordPress gods are all snuggly with their hubris.
Yes, I agree. People who use this platform know how it can be improved and it would help them make better changes.
Hi Pooja! My theme expired a few years ago and I didn’t want to change it. I experimented with different themes but didn’t like any of the ones the Premium Plan offered, including the free ones. So I will continue to use my expired theme – there’s less blogs with my theme which is kinda nice.
As for the updates, I don’t care for the tiny font in the editor. For ppl who are blind like me and can’t read tiny writing, I wasn’t happy about it. I also didn’t like the font itself… reminds me of times new Roman which I can’t read very well. I agree that the reader preview is worse now than it was before. Now it’s a collage of photos instead of a row of photos, which I preferred. WP needs to stop making changes and keep what works. Keep it simple.
Yeah I definitely get that. I would stick with this theme if I could but it’s slowing my site down so I think it’s time to switch even though I don’t like the themes they offer as much as my current one.
Yes, the fonts are an issue for me too. I find their changes to be so unnecessary which is so ridiculous because there are some changes that are very necessary that they ignore.
🤔 As someone who has been on WordPress for a very long time, I have learned not to rely too much on its looks because WordPress is always changing it.
Over the years, WordPress has constantly changed the appearance of the dashboard area; that, of course, results in us learning to find our way around the WordPress dashboard.
The Stats area looks more modern and is fully detailed (I can work with that).
They have made somewhat of a mess with the WordPress Reader though. Images tend to look a bit unrefined (The biggest irony is that they look okay on our actual blogs).
In regards to editing comments, I do not think that is going to happen anytime soon with WordPress’s default commenting system.
What I do know is that bloggers can use a third-party commenting system like Disqus on WordPress; which will grant users the ability to edit their comments (Unfortunately, I cannot tell you which one of the paid plans you would need to purchase in order to use third-party commenting systems).
My current pet peeve with WordPress is that they have chosen to display nine advertisements from Outbrain on the blogs of those who utilize the free WordPress plan.
When I joined WordPress, I accepted the fact that advertisements would be shown on my blog. However, WordPress abused its power by showing too many advertisements on a single post.
I second that. The first thing I noticed was the improvement on the stats page and how easier it is to understand the breakdown.
🙂 Thank you for chiming in.
I agree, WordPress has changed it’s look a number of times and as bloggers it’s something we have to get used to.
I personally don’t love how the stats look now but I do like that there are more details added.
I don’t like using third-party systems for anything because they tend to cause glitches and I don’t want to risk anything.
Yes, the Ads are too many these days. It was fine when there were two or even four but nine is too many. Even if you have a free site you deserve not to have so many ads on it.
I totally agree. Especially about the number of themes!! I was kinda shocked when I upgraded and nothing “unlocked”.. it seems like they would reach out more to their users..
Absolutely, the number of themes they offer are too low and the themes are not impressive at all. And they’re hard to customise which is annoying.
Yup, I agree 100%! It’s super annoying.
Maybe no one ever unfollowed you before. 😆 The worst thing I noticed is that I stopped getting notifications when someone likes my posts, but not when they like my comments.
Haha trust me I have been unfollowed 😂 But these days people tell me their site automatically unfollowed mine and they had to refollow me 😥 That’s odd, you should be getting those notifications.
I would say, these changes are useless. I’ve noticed that yes Wp looks different but it’s not making stuff easy or fun.
I was very comfortable with few things before, but now those are changed.
I got an idea for a blog after reading this, I will mail you. 😀
Most importantly, I hope you are recovering well. Take good care 🔆
Yeah agreed, they haven’t dealt with any real issues facing bloggers and just changed the design for no reason.
Oh cool, I look forward to it 😊
This is some great information, thanks for sharing. I am slowly getting back into my blogging after putting it on the side for a long time. I found your information very useful, thank you 🙂
Thank you much, glad you found the information useful 😊
Just want to say I agree with all of your key points about the changes!
Thank you so much!
You’re welcome.
I have seen more ads on some people’s blogs, like rows and rows of odd ones. That would bother me. I agree there should be a lot more theme options, especially for the business plan. The other updates are okay, the dashboard does look more modern.
Take care! 💕
Yeah I’ve noticed the ads on free blogs too. There is a crazy amount of ads now. And yes, I wish the plans came with more themes. Thank you!
You’re welcome! 🌸
Yea! What she said! 😉
Thanks 😊
I find the changes irritating but soon adjust as WP is going to do their thing anyway and we just have to ride with it 🙂
Yeah I feel the same way 🙂
Not noticed the changes yet !
Maybe yours will update later, are you using your desktop?
I love WordPress updates when it shows our progress as a blogger.
Yes, that helps a lot.
The only place I noticed had changed is the Stats area. Why? It looks ridiculous with its huge number font sizes and the highlighted backgrounds in other stat areas. Stupid! Removing followers? I have not seen that, but my first thought is censorship. Disgusting. I have a love/hate relationship with WordPress these days, Pooja.
Agreed. Not sure if it’s censorship or just WP glitching but it’s annoying when my followers tell me they had to refollow me because WP automatically made them unfollow my blog 😒
That’s ridiculous! That has never happened to me. WP has always had ghosts in the machine…
Yeah multiple people are complaining about this and for some of my followers my post doesn’t show up on their Reader. I get so irritated with these glitches.
Don’t use the reader, I never have!
I completely agree with you and I have noticed some changes as well, which I don’t really like. A bigger memory would be great as you say, and I’m also very sad that my theme is not working anymore, as I really love it and spent a lot of time optimising it… Now I’ll have to find a new one, hopefully they have similar ones!
Same here, hopefully we’ll both find great new themes!
Months ago, maybe years? I found I couldn’t much do anything on the platform. It was maybe around the time of the first big update. I contacted a HE and he was extremely helpful. He walked me through a work-around wherein I could keep the old system in place. I experience none of the problems and annoying things you mentioned. I can edit my comments on my site, tag others, same theme, etc. and so on.
~
However, I do have a “business” plan, which costs about $318 a year, or $26.50 a month. To me – it’s worth it because I grew up when you had to pay (a lot!) for publishing and advertising, and access to potential consumers was not easy. $318 might buy you one (small) ad in one magazine or newspaper for one run.
~
Today’s marketplace is radically different than before. WordPress is a business and is in competition with other platforms, too. So there is a constant battle to keep consumers/creators on the site. Or in the store, if you will. While we now have access to millions of potential “customers”, there’s also millions of others competing for those customers.
~ I think you’re doing great work, keep it up. I wish you the best. You are half a world away – holy shit – and somehow WordPress brought you and I in contact. Amazing.
That’s really great.
I have the Business Plan too and I am loving it so far. Wish it had a few more features but it is what it is.
Thank you and very happy to be able to connect with you thanks to WordPress.
There is a feature where you can edit comments. You just have to go to the page on your dashboard for comments in order to do so
But can you edit comments you’ve made on other blogs? That’s the feature I meant.
I get it, but I mostly look on my phone (app) for WordPress. Now I wonder what posts look like on desktop. Hmm.
Try looking at them on a desktop, it’s very different.
I’m scared now of my blog. Oh well, thank you for mentioning this.
Wow you just made a lightbulb go off in my head!! Maybe my them experired and thats why I’ve been having a horrible time with getting the desktop and phone version to do what it used to.
I miss the classic wordpress 🥹😩 Thanks for the insightful post!
Yeah probably because I think we have the same theme 😂 And mine has been acting up so much 😥
No way!!! I never even realized 😩😂
I find the stats extremely huge. I’m not sure why they need to be that big. Usually if I can’t read a font, I adjust the display size.
True, there is no reason for them to be so large.
I feel like I could see them from the other side of the room.
Honestly, they’re so huge and it’s just such an unnecessary change.
True.
Another name for this post could be bitter, bitter sweet Pooja. IDK. I keep having to refollow so many of my followers and I have no idea why. As of late things have seemed ok but I’m not holding my breath.. hahaha❣️
Haha that’s a good idea! Yeah that’s been happening and it’s so annoying 🙄
Nice post Pooja. I am someone who is not bothered by changes, in fact I like the new changes here on WordPress.com and I even selected my own theme and changed the old one I was using since 2021
Thanks for letting me know what you spotted here as the good and the bad.
Lastly, I am irritated by the glitches here too, every time I write a blog and save the draft it takes a while especially if I uploaded an image🙌
Thank you. Yes, the glitches can be quite annoying and they slow down out process.
Updates that just include surface changes are really annoying. I haven’t used the web app in a while, but hopefully when I get back to it i won’t dislike it that much. Thanks for the info!
And yes, we really do need to be able to edit comments!
Honestly, I get so annoyed!
Yup totally agree. It’s not awful I just find the updates so unnecessary.
Great post!
Actually I do agree with you, the majority of these updates have done nothing to improve our experience as writers on wordpress ,thus WordPress could do better…. Thanks for sharing ☺️
Thank you. Yes, unfortunately some glitches still remain. The update was more about changing the look rather than bettering our experience.
I do agree that the sudden changes do take some getting used to and every update causes a few more issues and the old ones still have not been fixed yet. I don’t too much mind the bigger font sizes as I think I need glasses anyway lol😀 but if WP are going to drop random updates they must improve the user experience first.
Yes, especially because the changes are so random and unexpected. I wish they would ask us how to better the platform rather than changing the design lol.
It is really annoying. I just lost the word count on my editor and don’t know how to re-instate it. I emailed the wordpress, but no answer so far. I have a feeling that other people might have more serious issues, especially those websites that are used for a company or for a business. I mean it could affect their clients or their business in a very unexpected ways. I wish WordPress is not going through something like what Twitter is going through. I have to pray that WordPress continues to be stable…
Yes, these glitches are quite frequent on WordPress and it’s very annoying. I hope so too. Twitter is a mess right now.
You are absolutely right. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure and thank you.
WordPress should give us the option of editing our comments on other blogs.
I absolutely agree.
WordPress is glitches are irritating!
Even I haven’t been getting your post updates!
What do I do??
That’s so annoying. I honestly don’t know what to do because they keep telling me everything is fine.
Everytime I wish to check out your post, I have to go back and search for your site. Reader section doesn’t really show your posts.
That’s so odd and a number of my followers have told me that. I asked the Happiness Engineers but they refuse to help.
😕
Thank you for posting this Pooja – I had just contacted WordPress support because I thought i was going crazy – my editor is lagging and I find it hard to read – the font is smaller and blurred out til I click on it. WordPress asked if I had updated something and I should delete all my plugins and reinstall….I think it was an update to the editor but don’t know how to describe it…… I do appreciate your site and not meaning to use you as tech support – but i am not sure what exactly triggered the change – do you know? Thanks so much!
That’s okay, I am happy to help when I can. I would really recommend not deleting and reinstalling plugins. That will do more damage to your site. Instead check if any plugins need an update. In my opinion, it seems that your editor is glitching. If it’s happening on all your devices (like computer and mobile phone) then it is an issue on WordPress’s side. If it’s only happening on one device try clearing your browser history and switching it on and off. That usually fixes such glitches. I hope that helps and let me know if the issue is fixed.
As a new blogger thank you for sharing. I recently started my new blog but it’s true it takes time to adjust to WordPress. It’s like a learning curve 🙈
Yes, absolutely. It takes a while but it’s a lot of fun once you get used to it 😊