[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #52790: Reusable blocks disappeared

[WordPress Trac]

#52790: Reusable blocks disappeared
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  jordiparera                          |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  reopened
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  5.8.2
Component:  Editor                               |     Version:  5.7
 Severity:  critical                             |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  reporter-feedback needs-testing      |     Focuses:
  2nd-opinion                                    |
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------

Comment (by jagenda):

 Replying to [comment:64 audrasjb]:
 > Hello,
 >
 > > In my opinion, the problem comes from the fact that the reusable
 blocks' behavior was somehow changed on a system update to make reusable
 blocks EDITABLE within the posts or pages
 >
 > I just wanted to mention that since the beginning of the block editor in
 WordPress, reusable blocks have always been editable from the post they
 were inserted.
 >
 > This is unrelated with the issue :)

 I strongly disagree. Editing reusable blocks within page editor may not be
 the exact the issue described here (that of disappearing reusable blocks)
 but it is definitely related to the reason these problems occur in the
 first place.

 Before 5.7 a reusable block was displayed as its own block and you could
 not click on any of the blocks it contained. If you wanted to edit the
 contents of said block within the page, you had to convert it to regular
 blocks, which would not affect the reusable block itself, only the
 contents of that page. In order to edit the reusable block itself there
 was a link to edit the block, which brought you to a separate wp_block
 edit page. At no point did you edit the contents of the reusable block
 within the page editor. At the very least doing so was so obscure that
 nobody could do it by accident as is the case now.

 Firstly, it's nigh impossible to even select the reusable block itself.
 Even I struggle to click on the right spot, because the reusable block has
 no padding, no heading section and no borders. I cannot begin to describe
 the number of times I get support calls from less tech savvy end-users,
 who accidentally removed the content of a reusable block or moved the
 content from the reusable block to the page when they were simply trying
 to get rid of an instance of the reusable block from one page. Every time
 this happens, it affects the whole site, not just the page they are
 editing.

 Secondly, the lack of visual clarity around the resuable block means that
 you cannot differentiate where it begins and ends. Prior to this change
 you did not have the Add Block button inside the reusable block itself.
 Now that you do, it is no wonder that users keep adding reusable blocks
 within other reusable blocks because you cannot tell when you are adding
 blocks to the page and when you are adding them to the reusable block
 contents. THIS is what causes the blocks to break due to nested reusable
 blocks.

 So I would argue that the whole reason these problems arise is because
 users have no idea what they are editing at any given moment.

 The simplest solution would be to give developers the ability to revert
 back to the old system by adding an option to lock reusable blocks within
 pages so that they cannot be edited anywhere other than the wp_block edit
 page.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/52790#comment:65>
WordPress Trac <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/>
WordPress publishing platform