Do WordPress Plugins work effectively in ClassicPress?

Learning and using loads of JavaScript; is one of the major challenges for most developers post Gutenberg integration into the WordPress core. By trade/learning, most developers using WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS) started with the basic HTML, CSS and PHP to make dynamic content. JavaScript was then introduced for simple animations using libraries like JQuery and MooTools.

It is with the same energy and learning direction most new developers took. We were or became “PHP developers”. Frankly, the learning curve was much easier than build blocks today or even considered a plateau if we are to use geographic imagery.

The introduction of Gutenberg in core was the huge behemoth that generation saw coming and could not tell what it would eventually become. Others like myself, believed that the block Editor, should have remained a plugin with interaction of it, only with the Editor and not spread out to Widgets, Navigations and whatever else will change.

Welcome ClassicPress, the WordPress Fork

There are a number of reasons for disregarding Gutenberg or WordPress 5.0+, but for many, learning and using React was big. It became the source for their frustration and reason to decline using Gutenberg or what is now commonly called the Block Editor. To be more appropriate, the final straw that led to the migration for some to ClassicPress.

The Big question

With WordPress now forked (WordPress version 4.9) and made into a stable ClassicPress (version 1.0), is there space for migration and using the same plugins I have always used? Won’t my website crash if I migrate from WordPress to ClassicPress?

Migrating from WordPress to ClassicPress does not touch your site content (posts, pages, CPTs, themes, plugins, uploads), anything else in your database, wp-config.php, .htaccess, etc.  It only replaces the core WordPress files, most of which are in the wp-admin and wp-includes directories.

ClassicPress Docs – https://docs.classicpress.net/installing-classicpress/#migrate-classicpress

The users at ClassicPress via the forums have made a list of the plugins that have been used on live sites and still work perfectly in both instances of the softwares.

I sought to make an evaluation of the above claim by developing a Lightbox JS Gallery Plugin (using Custom Post Types) for both WordPress and ClassicPress to see if there would be any issues. In the video below, I share what the final project will be.

I had one goal and that was to use only the tools embedded in the WordPress/ ClassicPress core unless otherwise. In this list were;

1. Custom post types
2. Attachment post type
3. WP_Query` class and get_posts()
4. Lightbox JS library by Lokesh
5. Of course, style in CSS.

Currently, WordPress, has implemented Gutenberg in core and it only affects the Editor for now. For a developer to leverage this new tech, they have to enqueue React Js that has been added as wp.blocks, wp.editor etc.

WordPress has resolved to support the classic Editor plugin until Dec 2021 and this is the only promise all plugins rely on for backward compatibility. Unless you stick to WordPress 4.9.9, your plugins that are not Gutenberg compatible might break if they interact with the new block Editor.

One can not sit on the fence. Either you dive in, or bow out! Because Gutenberg will be in the Navigation and widgets sooner than later.

For now, all plugins working with 4.9 versions of WordPress will work with ClassicPress without issues. Theoretically, YES! Your plugins should be able to work in ClassicPress after migration.

However, you will have some errors if:

1. The plugin author starts adding compatibility for the block editor and they don’t think of backwards compatibility.
2. The plugin has built for Gutenberg/Block Editor specifically.

Read the article on building a Lightbox JS Gallery Plugin for ClassicPress & WordPress using Custom Post Types linked here to see my process and final verdict.

TL:DR; below is the video playlist showing the whole process.

Have you used other plugins in ClassicPress? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments below.