{"id":1583,"date":"2025-02-05T20:46:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T20:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs-ecuad.ca\/support\/?p=1583"},"modified":"2026-10-20T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T21:30:16","slug":"switching-editors-classic-vs-block","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/switching-editors-classic-vs-block\/","title":{"rendered":"Editors: Classic vs block"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"guide-summary wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress has two editors. The <strong>Classic Editor<\/strong> is one text box with a toolbar, like email. The <strong>block editor<\/strong> builds a post from separate blocks, such as paragraphs, images and headings. Your site admin decides which one you get, and whether you can switch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which editor do I have?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Classic Editor:<\/strong> a title field, one large text box with a toolbar (Bold, Italic, <strong>Add Media<\/strong>) and a <strong>Publish<\/strong> box on the right.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Block editor:<\/strong> a clean white page that says <strong>Add title<\/strong>, with a <strong>+<\/strong> button for adding blocks and a <strong>Publish<\/strong> button at the top right.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"535\" src=\"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-1024x535.png\" alt=\"The Classic Editor: a title field, a text box with a formatting toolbar, and the Publish box on the right\" class=\"wp-image-2055\" srcset=\"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-1024x535.png 1024w, https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-300x157.png 300w, https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-768x401.png 768w, https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-1536x802.png 1536w, https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-07-15-at-2.30.51\u202fPM-2048x1070.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Which one should I use?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Classic Editor<\/strong> is quickest to learn. It suits posts that are mostly text with a few images.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Block editor<\/strong> does more: columns, galleries, embedded video and more control over layout. It is the default in WordPress and where new features arrive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your instructor uses one in class, use that one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Switch editors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If your site allows switching, you can set the editor you prefer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the Dashboard, click <strong>Profile<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Under <strong>Default Editor<\/strong>, choose <strong>Classic editor<\/strong> or <strong>Block editor<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Scroll down and click <strong>Update Profile<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can also choose for a single post. In <strong>Posts<\/strong>, point to a title and click <strong>Edit (block editor)<\/strong> or <strong>Edit (classic editor)<\/strong>. See <a href=\"\/support\/editing-a-post\/\">Editing a post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tip:<\/strong> No <strong>Default Editor<\/strong> option on your Profile? Your site admin has set one editor for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">For site admins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the Dashboard, go to <strong>Settings \u2192 Writing<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set <strong>Default editor for all users<\/strong> to Classic editor or Block editor.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Set <strong>Allow users to switch editors<\/strong> to Yes or No.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>Save Changes<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Good to know<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Stick with the editor a post was written in. Opening a block editor post in the Classic Editor can mess up its layout.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Want to go deeper with the block editor? See the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/documentation\/article\/wordpress-block-editor\/\">block editor documentation on wordpress.org<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related guides<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"\/support\/making-a-new-post\/\">Making a new post<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/support\/editing-a-post\/\">Editing a post<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"\/support\/adding-images-to-a-post\/\">Adding images to a post<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WordPress has two editors. The Classic Editor is one text box with a toolbar, like email. The block editor builds a post from separate blocks, such as paragraphs, images and headings. Your site admin decides which one you get, and whether you can switch. Which editor do I have? Which one should I use? If [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-getting-started"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1583"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2325,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1583\/revisions\/2325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palette.ecuad.ca\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}