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

[WordPress Trac]

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

 Replying to [comment:65 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.
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 I totally agree with you. This all started happening after the update to
 the editing behavior for reusable blocks. It makes no sense to allow
 editors to freely edit an item that was originally intended as
 "boilerplate" content. The whole point of reusable blocks was to allow
 editors to add repeatable text and content easily AND to maintain that
 content across multiple pages! This is tantamount to permitting editors to
 edit a page template within a post. It makes no logical sense.

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/52790#comment:68>
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