CUNY Academic Commons

Hi Syelle, thanks for reporting this. I am project manager for the Commons and am looping in a couple of our developers. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks, Ray...

But we don't really need to use block editor, if it's not available. I've only been trying to embed a YouTube video, which suddenly has not worked for days. That's why I tried to switch to block and noticed that we couldn't switch to block either, so it seemed like two bugs.

Also, I did try "Use Gutenberg On This Page" button before I opened the ticket; it did not work either, and now, it no longer shows.

We actually need classic editor the most, and right now, I can no longer open the page in classic. I cannot switch to classic. The page's content is also gone.

Does this mean we cannot embed YouTube videos in classic anymore?

We need to restore the page, open it in classic editor, and embed a YouTube video in it.

We're on a bit of a deadline due to a report we need to link to this. I'm not sure what to try next. I'll start with attempting to create a new page, restoring the lost content from memory and notes, and see if videos embed now?

Have other sites in other themes lost the ability to embed YT videos?

(I'm so sorry I wasn't clearer about the video embedding bug as the source of all this in my original ticket.)

Hi Syelle,

Can you pass the YouTube link that you're trying to embed as well as the page(s) you want to embed the YouTube video in?

I started from scratch, and I was able to get the Classic editor open in a new page, and embed the video!

Here is a link to a page draft that shows no editors except Page Builder. Maybe it will help? https://iletc.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-admin/post.php?post=4872&action=edit&classic-editor

Raymond Hoh wrote:

Hi Syelle,

Can you pass the YouTube link that you're trying to embed as well as the page(s) you want to embed the YouTube video in?

The video suddenly embeds now...

Syelle Graves wrote:

I started from scratch, and I was able to get the Classic editor open in a new page, and embed the video!

Here is a link to a page draft that shows no editors except Page Builder. Maybe it will help? https://iletc.commons.gc.cuny.edu/wp-admin/post.php?post=4872&action=edit&classic-editor

I published this test page. It still has neither editor for adding any content.
And clicking on the hyperlink only takes me to a preview screen https://iletc.commons.gc.cuny.edu/?page_id=4872&preview=true

It seems that the ability to create new pages is still sort of hit or miss...

Raymond Hoh wrote:

Hi Syelle,

The video suddenly embeds now...

That was me! I've updated the two pages referenced in the original ticket to embed the two YouTube videos that I believe you were trying to embed.

When you want to embed a YouTube video in Classic Editor, for best results, you should use the "Text" tab instead of the "Visual" tab. Then you have to paste the link to the YouTube video on a separate line. I've attached a screenshot.

Here's the WordPress article about embedding videos in the Classic Editor: https://wordpress.org/support/article/embeds/#usage.

But ten minutes ago, I created a new page and embedded a YT video in the Visual tab with no problem. Is it supposed to be inconsistent like that? I embed YT videos in the visual tab in the classic editor all the time, and have been on Commons sites for year.

And re: the other bug, right now, I can no longer create new pages in any editor, except Page Builder, like before.

Raymond Hoh wrote:

I published this test page. It still has neither editor for adding any content.

Have you tried expanding the "Page Builder" metabox? I've attached a GIF.

Right--that's the problem. The Page Builder is the only editor available. We need Classic, like we usually have. I'm not sure what you're asking--sorry! The Classic editor has never been unavailable like this before.

But ten minutes ago, I created a new page and embedded a YT video in the Visual tab with no problem. Is it supposed to be inconsistent like that? I embed YT videos in the visual tab in the classic editor all the time, and have been on Commons sites for year.

To be absolutely sure, you should always use the "Text" tab to embed video. The "Visual" tab can contain quirks especially when you are copying and pasting content, which can introduce adding whitespace as well as paragraph or other HTML tags to the video link, which would cause the video to not embed automatically.

Raymond Hoh wrote:

If you want to use Classic Editor, you have to change the Page Template back to the Default Template. I've attached a screenshot.

I was able to find this out through trial-and-error. It's a little confusing, but that's how the Make theme and Page Builder works. I would probably use another theme, but that's just me.

YES that worked! Is there some chance the default got switched over to Builder, after some kind of update? I add to this site all the time, and this has never happened!

And I fully agree about the Make theme! I was not around when it was decided upon, and it has always made me nervous. I wish we could change it, but I think too much of the site's content /design is dependent on it. If you have any tips on a way to change the theme, and a recommended alternative, I welcome tips!

Thank you for everything.

Boone Gorges wrote:

Thanks all for the work here - it looks like we tracked down the idiosyncrasy in the Make theme.

Yes, thank you, Boone!

I think the only remaining question is why YouTube videos have been embedding so inconsistently in the classic editor. Ray offered the solution to use the Text tab, but that doesn't explain why the embedding works sometimes in the Visual tab and sometimes not, which is new behavior.

I was wondering if this could be related to the times when the Commons gets very slow, as of late? The reason all of this happened, initially, is because the YouTube videos were suddenly not embedding for us, even when I waited several minutes. So it was almost as if the process simply timed out?

Or could the video embedding inconsistencies also be a glitch in the Make theme?

YES that worked! Is there some chance the default got switched over to Builder, after some kind of update?

From checking out some of the support docs on Make's site (https://thethemefoundry.com/docs/make-docs/page-builder/creating-builder-page/), it looks like the Builder Template has always been the default.

There was an update to the Make theme in April, but that didn't have anything to do with the Page Builder.

If you have any tips on a way to change the theme, and a recommended alternative, I welcome tips!

I haven't had to build a site in awhile, but I'd probably try a Block Editor-based theme.

Since the ILETC site doesn't look that complicated layout-wise, it should be pretty easy to just simply switch the theme to something else and switch back if there are problems. However, to be safe, you can export your site's content under "Tools > Export" in the admin dashboard. Then, you can create a new site and import the content to experiment with a new theme.

Ray offered the solution to use the Text tab, but that doesn't explain why the embedding works sometimes in the Visual tab and sometimes not, which is new behavior.

If the YouTube link is wrapped with a paragraph tag (<p>), then the embed will not work. This can somestimes happen when copying-and-pasting content from a Word document or another rich-text source into the Visual Editor, which is why I recommend to always use the Text Editor if you are having problems embedding. Also, sometimes the author of the YouTube video can disable embedding as well.