Tracking: Upstream Gutenberg issues

[dcalhoun]

The issue serves as a single location to track bugs, limitations, or improvement opportunities originating from/relating to the upstream WordPress or Gutenberg projects. We will likely create individual issues in the upstream repository and list them here.

Bugs and Limitations

• We need a endpoint exposing editor assets in core to support a remote/site-specific editor for all WordPress sites without requiring a plugin (see pbArwn-6Fz-p2).
• We rely upon several private APIs or workaround non-existent APIs; we need to identify ways to avoid doing this altogether (see p1726742054662019/1726235525.551819-slack-C04PWEZSYFL):
  • WORKAROUND | useBlockEditorSettings is unavailable as a public (or private) API (see p1726247399840659/1726235525.551819-slack-C04PWEZSYFL)
  • We rely upon the private ExperimentalBlockCanvas.
  • We manually inject "common" WordPress layout styles that appear absent outside of the WP Admin environment.
  • We manually set post title styles that should be injected by the private LayoutStyles component.
  • NativeBlockInserterButton uses private APIs useInsertionPoint and useBlockTypesState Native Inserter: Implement block insertion #199
  • PATCHED | Inserter lacks an API for opening it remotely—e.g., allowing the "quick" inserter's "Browse all" button to open the Inserter.
• __unstableIsEditorReady appears to not provide an entirely accurate result, causing the post title UI to "pop in" after editor content renders. However, the web seemingly does not suffer from this same issue—possibly related to preloading post types before rendering the editor? In GutenbergKit, the post type is first loaded within PostTitle's usage of PostTypeSupportCheck.
• PATCHED | Audio block unable to upload MP3 files on iOS WordPress/gutenberg#70119
• PATCHED | Mobile/touchscreen devices: Cursor disappears when scrolling by tapping outside the block area on touchscreen tablet and laptop WordPress/gutenberg#67986
• Unable to navigate Popover content via Android TalkBack WordPress/gutenberg#70277
• iOS (web): keyboard doesn't start capitalised (uppercase) WordPress/gutenberg#63261
• PATCHED | Unable to resize images on mobile devices
• PATCHED | The block inserter insertion point popover disrupts touch events when inserting blocks, requiring two taps to insert a block.
• Ideally, an editor filter hook allowing replacing Gutenberg's default block inserter so that various editor UI opens the custom inserter. This would provide more control to avoid oddities noted in fix: Inline inserter opens native inserter #230.
• PATCHED | Unable to import non-exported @wordpress/editor and @wordpress/format-library stylesheets.

UX Improvement Opportunities

• Can’t select multiple blocks at a time on iOS WordPress/gutenberg#16206
• Frequent block actions are often cumbersome on touch devices, requiring multiple steps/taps—e.g., deleting a block, reordering blocks.
• Several UI controls are difficult to use on touch devices due to small text, small touch targets, or focus-based triggers—e.g., gradient picker, dismissing popovers on selection.
• Drag-and-drop doesn't really function and currently creates odd experiences, particularly when long-pressing images (doesn't trigger drag-and-drop, but instead triggers default OS behavior).
• Difficult to discern the currently selected block; the outline is subtle around images and there is nothing similar to Gutenberg Mobile's floating indicator.
• Keyboard-centric accessibility descriptions are confusing on touch devices—e.g., the inline inserter describes using "arrow keys" to navigate options, which isn't relevant for a touch device with a virtual keyboard.