WordPress 7.0 changed the way the Custom HTML block works.
Before WordPress 7.0, you could see and edit your HTML directly inside the Custom HTML block in the Visual Editor. Now, the editor primarily shows the rendered result. To edit the actual code, you click the block and open the HTML editor in a modal.
WordPress added separate areas for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, presenting the change as an improvement. Users who dislike popups, overlays, and extra steps disagree.
But there’s a more serious problem: What happens when the Custom HTML block doesn’t render anything at all?
You don’t see the block. Not fun abra-cadabra magic.
The Custom HTML Block Can Appear to Disappear
A Gutenberg bug report titled “Custom HTML block disappears” describes blocks that appear blank or disappear from the editing interface even though their HTML remains present and works on the live website.
Another Gutenberg issue concerns rendering problems involving structured data such as JSON-LD. Additional reports describe similar behavior with JavaScript-only snippets and other code that doesn’t produce a normal visual result.
The problem is straightforward: you can’t edit HTML that has disappeared from the editor.
The code may still be stored in the post, but that doesn’t help much if you can’t readily find the block containing it. A user might even assume the block is empty and delete it.
Saying that the HTML still exists doesn’t make the editing experience acceptable. The editor should make existing content identifiable and accessible.
Structured Data Shouldn’t Need a Generic HTML Block
JSON-LD provides information that search engines and other systems can use to understand a page. It isn’t ordinary visible content that needs to be displayed in the Visual Editor.
So why put it in a generic Custom HTML block and depend on the editor to handle it correctly?
UltimateWB provides a dedicated section for structured data and other head code, labeled “Add Code: In head section, right before end head tag,” on the Add/Edit pages of your website admin panel. Enter your structured data there, and UltimateWB places it in the proper location in the page. You don’t have to hide it in a generic content block.
The same approach extends to UltimateWB’s integrated WordPress Blog option. UltimateWB has modified and enhanced the blog to work with its website-building system, including built-in SEO and structured-data controls. It’s not simply a standard WordPress installation dropped into the website.
When an Update Makes Things Harder
WordPress 7.0’s Custom HTML changes illustrate a broader problem with website updates: a change can make an existing feature less convenient to use. And when the change introduces bugs, users are left dealing with the consequences.
Your website builder should help you manage your website, not make you wonder whether something that looks empty is actually full of code.
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