MRW Simplified Editor Plugin

Help your site’s editors create semantic content and style it with the theme for consistent formatting and portable content. This plugin removes blocks and other styling options to help editors focus.

I built this plugin for use on client sites. I hope you’ll find it useful! This is an opinionated plugin. Read an in-depth reasoning behind the decisions made by this plugin in the post “A WordPress Formatting Manifesto.” If you find it compelling, then you’ll probably like this plugin!

Contribute on Github.

Block Editor Features

This plugin greatly simplifies the block editor by hiding all of the following features. Filters are provided for developers to adjust what is hidden (including making it easier to hide additional blocks).

• Infrequently Used Core Blocks such as Verse, Table, Audio, Video, etc., and all Query- and Site-related blocks. See FAQ for full list of hidden blocks.
• All Core Block Styles and the “Default style” feature
• Some Block Editor Settings: Drop Cap, Heading 1, Heading 5, Heading 6, font sizing by pixel, open links in new tabs (mostly hidden), duotone, text styles like line-height and letter spacing, inline formats including Highlight and Inline Image, etc.
• Default color, gradient, and duotone settings (Custom theme palettes/settings are never hidden)
• Core Block Patterns (WP 5.5+)
• Block Directory (WP 5.5+)
• Infrequently Used Jetpack Blocks – See FAQ for full list of hidden blocks.
• “Upload” and “Insert from URL” image options to encourage use of Media Library

The plugin also improves the editor by:

• Increasing prominence of contrast errors
• Styling “Save draft” as a button

Classic Editor / Classic Block Features

Reduces editor to a single row of buttons: “Styleselect” (Headings 2-4 and Blockquote as well as Strikethrough, Subscript, Superscript, Preformatted, and Code), Bold, Italic, Add/Edit Link, Break Link, Horizontal Rule, Paste as Plain Text, Remove Styles, Special Characters, Undo, Redo, Help, Distraction Free Mode.

Note on WordPress version Support

Due to frequent changes to the block editor, features are only guaranteed for the latest version of WordPress.

1. 

   The Block Editor simplified, here with no colors or drop caps for the Paragraph block.

2. 

2.13.0 (March 12, 2024, Released on a train somewhere between Seattle and Portland 🚆)

• [New] Hide new default box-shadows design feature. Should not interfere with theme-defined shadows. Enable default shadows via mrw_hidden_block_editor_settings filter.
• [Fix] Hide Headings 1, 5, and 6 in WordPress 6.5+
• Add new blueprint.json file to support plugin repository playground feature

2.12.1 (November 30, 2023)

• Fix ability to unhide newly-hidden inline formats (Footnote, highlight, inline image, inline code, and keyboard)

2.12.0 (November 3, 2023)

• WordPress 6.4 compatibility
• Fix error that hid custom theme duotone options
• Fully hide Footnotes inserter unless the block is unhidden via mrw_hidden_blocks filter
• Hide “Highlight”, “Inline Image”, “Inline Code”, and “Keyboard” toolbar inline formats. Can be re-enabled via mrw_hidden_block_editor_settings filter.
• Hide “Upload” option in “Replace” media menu
• Remove background color options from Cover block placeholder
• Hide new Background Image option on Group block
• Hide new “Text Orientation” / writing mode option

2.11.0 (August 21, 2023)

• Requires WordPress 6.0. Legacy code removed
• [New] Show all Post- and Query-related blocks in the Site Editor
• [New] Hide Classic (aka freeform), Details, Footnotes, Comments, and Post Author blocks
• [New] Hide Group / Cover width settings and Group child blocks Justification settings and min-height setting (does not impact Cover min-height setting). Can be shown with mrw_hidden_block_editor_settings filter.
• [Dev] The mrw_hidden_blocks and all mrw_hidden_*_blocks filters now support a second $context parameter that contains the current screen’s ID so you can target the block editor (post), site editor (site-editor), or widget editor (widgets).
• [New] New Jetpack blocks hidden including AI Assistance, all form blocks, and payment-related blocks
• [Fix] WordPress 6.3 compatibility (re-hide media upload buttons, default gradients, comments block)
• [Fix] “getBlockVariations(…) is undefined warning in Widget and Site Editors
• [Meta] Removed “Formerly MRW Web Design Simple TinyMCE” now that the block editor is 4.5 years old!
• 2.11.1: Change layout-width-height value in the mrw_hidden_block_editor_settings filter to be accurate layout-width.

Full Changelog

• Changelog on Github