It has been a very long time since I’ve used the WordPress for iOS app to create content material. In the present day, I made a decision to take it for a spin to take a look at the block editor and to see if it has comparable quirks to its desktop counterpart. Earlier than launching the app, I didn’t sit up for the expertise I used to be about to undergo however I used to be pleasantly stunned.
I began off by connecting the app to my WordPress.com account and writing a publish utilizing what I imagine are the commonest blocks, these being Paragraph, Quote, Picture, Listing, Heading, and Video. Whereas typing away at my telephone’s keyboard like a rooster pecks corn kernels, the writing expertise was higher than I imagined. Including new blocks is a button press away. I additionally seen that there’s a handy search possibility above the blocks.
Many of the blocks I used labored as anticipated with little bother. The exception was the dreaded Quote block. I nonetheless have points with it on the desktop model of the block editor and people points continued within the cell app. You can’t paste two paragraphs of textual content right into a Quote block with out it turning right into a Paragraph block. The best way to get round this on the desktop is to pick each Paragraph blocks and rework them right into a Quote block however as I found, there isn’t a strategy to choose a number of blocks within the app.
There’s an ongoing subject on GitHub from 2019 associated to this function. In 2019 and 2020, builders mentioned utilizing a protracted press to set off the flexibility to pick a number of blocks however that perform is used to pull blocks up or down.
It feels pure to lengthy press on a block and have the ability to drag it up or down however I believe it will be good if I might choose the block above or under the chosen one with a distinct finger whereas the lengthy press is going on. Or, maybe a better methodology however one which will litter the UI or take up house is a block listing view the place I can choose a number of blocks with none type of lengthy urgent or utilizing a number of fingers. The builders haven’t give you an answer but so the Quote block’s utilization will stay lower than ideally suited within the close to time period.
It’s not my most popular methodology of writing content material however in some methods, the small display model of the block editor feels much less clunky than its desktop counterpart. Outdoors of the problems involving the Quote block, I’m truly impressed with how nicely the interface works. Kudos to the builders engaged on the WordPress for iOS app as they’ve carried out an amazing job getting a large new writing interface to be usable on a small display.
