Answers to some commonly asked questions
We hope to be able to answer many of your questions here in this FAQ but we understand you will very likely have other questions too. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here or on the rest of our website, we’d love it if you popped into our forums and ask whatever question(s) you need answering.
What is ClassicPress?
ClassicPress is a community-led fork of the WordPress content management system that preserves the classic TinyMCE editor as the default option. We want to get back to basics and focus on open dialogue and democratic decisions. To learn more, view our mission statement.
ClassicPress is released under the GNU General Public License version 2 (GPLv2) (or later) license from the Free Software Foundation. A copy of the license is included with every copy of ClassicPress, but you can also read the text of the license at https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html.
Among other things, the GPLv2 license requires that any code you write that derives from ClassicPress, and which you distribute for use by others, will automatically be covered by the GPLv2 license.
What is the difference between ClassicPress and Classic Editor?
ClassicPress is a community-led open source content management system (CMS) that was originally a fork of WordPress.
Classic Editor is the TinyMCE editor, used by WordPress for many years until the introduction of the block-based Gutenberg editor.
Who is ClassicPress for?
ClassicPress is the professonal-quality CMS for creators. Our tag-line is:
Stable. Secure. Instantly Familiar.
ClassicPress is a modified and enhanced version of WordPress (without Gutenberg) that serves website creators everywhere, whether you’re a hobbyist, freelance developer, an organization, group, or individual. If you want a stable, secure and instantly familiar CMS, then ClassicPress is for you.
What is your stance on backward compatibility?
ClassicPress Version 1 will remain fully compatible with WordPress 4.9.x and will be an LTS version (Long Term Support) as we plan to support the ClassicPress v1.x release series with bugfixes and security updates for as long as people need it. ClassicPress is following the semver versioning scheme, which means that in the 1.x.x release series there can be no breaking changes from 1.0.0.
If there are potentially breaking changes in ClassicPress v2.x, we will add a new screen to the upgrade process explaining the changes very clearly and carefully. We will also do as much as possible to automatically confirm that your site can be safely upgraded to the new version.
Upgrades to a new major version which contains potentially breaking changes will always be optional and clearly communicated.
You can read all the details on our roadmap.
What is new/different in ClassicPress v1?
Details of the changes in ClassicPress v1 are available in on our forums here. Be sure to also review the Release Notes subforum for additional information.
Will my current plugins and themes work in ClassicPress?
Yes, however, it is generally suggested to use alternatives programmed specifically for ClassicPress.
All WordPress Themes or Plugins that are requiring a WordPress Version: 4.9 or lower will generally work in ClassicPress Version 1 and above.
WordPress Plugins or Themes explicitly requiring WordPress Version: 5.0 or higher will not work with ClassicPress, and should not be used.
If you’re experiencing something different, we’d appreciate you reporting it in the support forums, Slack, or GitHub.
You can find out if a Theme or Plugin officially still supports WordPress Version 4.9, by navigating to said Plugin or Theme page in the WordPress Repositories and looking for the WordPress Version information in the right-hand sidebar. Additionally, a Plugin or Theme Developer might decide to explicitly support ClassicPress. In those cases, the Developer will tag their Software with ClassicPress. You can find all Plugins currently tagged with ClassicPress on this list or in the ClassicPress Plugin Directory.
This is how you can see on the single WordPress Theme or Plugin Repository page, whether the software is explicitly compatible with ClassicPress, or works with WordPress 4.9, or does not work with WordPress 4.9 and thus also will not work with ClassicPress.
If in doubt, always contact the Plugin Developers and ask if they plan to support WordPress 4.9 for the time to come, or if they perhaps would be interested in explicitly Supporting ClassicPress. Tell them about the available Tag in the WordPress repo, and also about the ClassicPress Plugin directory, so they can – if they want – promote their plugin or theme to a broader public.
There have also been a few occasions where a plugin update has broken compatibility with both WordPress 4.9.x and ClassicPress without prior notice, either by the decision of the Developers or by accident.
Whatever the case may be, you should contact the plugin developers and ask them if they could maintain compatibility, but you cannot expect them to do so. It is everyone’s own decision what versions to support with their Plugins or Themes. If you are not 100% sure about the plans of a Plugin or Theme Developer or fear the minimal version required might just be 4.9 by accident, always try to confirm with the Developers their plans. And, start looking for alternatives, as listed below, or on the ClassicPress Plugin Repository, so you do not risk a bad surprise in the future.
The best thing to do, if you have the capacity and motivation, is to develop a new Plugin or Theme designated for ClassicPress, that covers the things your favorite software until now did. Of course, this is a huge amount of work and is usually suitable only for experienced Developers. But at ClassicPress we have a thriving and eager-to-help community, thus feel free to join our Forums and ask for suggestions or help, if your favorite plugin or theme isn’t working with the best CMS there is. It might just be that an avid Developer is around and ready to work on a fork of the original or develop new software.
Important
Note that ClassicPress already provides some alternatives for major Plugins such as WooCommerce, or Yoast SEO. If you switch to ClassicPress, you will want to have a look at these Plugins. You can find them either in the ClassicPress Plugin Directory or consult below replacement list:
- WooCommerce, or any Shop Plugin => Classic Commerce
- WooCommerce Extensions/Addons => CC Compat with WooCommerce (compatibility bridge plugin)
- Yoast SEO, or any SEO Plugin => Classic SEO
Can I convert a WordPress site to ClassicPress – and what if I don’t like it?
Yes, you can easily convert a WordPress site to ClassicPress using the
.The rollback process is currently a manual process (below), but we’re working on a way to automate it.
To roll back to WordPress, you can download any WordPress version without the wp-content folder (i.e. https://wordpress.org/wordpress-4.9.22-no-content.zip).
To revert to it you simply delete all the files on the server EXCEPT the wp-content folder and the wp-config.php file.
Upload the files you downloaded and your site will be back to WP 4.9.8. Please note that if you upload the zip and unpack it on the server it will be in a [wordpress] folder and not the root of your public_html unless you tell it to unpack there.
We are working on a way to automate the rollback.
Why should I migrate from WordPress?
WordPress is an excellent content management system and so we appreciate that it may be a daunting prospect to switch to a different system. All of us here at ClassicPress have backgrounds in creating or developing in WordPress, so we do know exactly how it feels. To help you with your decision, we’ve created a page outlining 10 good reasons why migrating from WordPress makes a whole lot of sense.
How can I indicate my plugin/theme is compatible with CP?
Plugins and themes should be tagged ‘ClassicPress’ to allow users to easily find them when searching on the Wordpress.org site or repositories via the ClassicPress admin panel.
A number of plugins have already been tagged as compatible with ClassicPress and can easily be found in the WordPress Plugin Repository.
I think I found a bug – what do I do?
Bugs can be reported on the support forums or, if you know how to write a bug report, via GitHub. If logging via GitHub, please make sure to follow the template instructions:
For issues with ClassicPress itself, open an issue here
For issues with the Migration plugin, open an issue here
I need help with something else, what should I do?
If you have an issue with ClassicPress that you’d like some help resolving, go to our support forum and make a new topic. Be sure to search existing posts first to make sure your question hasn’t already been answered.
If you just have a question or want to chat with us about something, you can join our Slack group.
Please remember that like all of ClassicPress, our support is a volunteer effort by the community. If you are able to help answer support questions in the forum, that is also more than welcome!
