Retiring the old visual editor and raw editor
Retiring the old visual editor & raw editor
At the User Group meeting on the 19th March 2026, we announced that we are working to retire the old visual editor and raw editor.
This page is intended to provide the background information behind this decision, and the timeframe for the process.
Note: All dates and information on this page are provisional and may be subject to change.
Why retire the old editors?
The old visual editor (Classic editor) and raw editor have not been in active development for some time, and no longer receive updates, bug fixes, or new features.
We introduced the Components Editor in January 2022, to provide a modern, updated web platform, offering enhanced functionality, better control over page layout and live accessibility checking to help ensure your content complies with the University's accessibility obligations.
Find out more advantages of SiteBuilder.
Note: The Textile editor page template is unaffected by this change, and will remain available.
Next steps
Our intention is to phase the editors out by taking the steps below.
Important: Dates provided are provisional, and are intended only to indicate the timeframe in which we anticipate the relevant phase of the process to complete; all details are subject to change. We'll keep this page updated and post the precise date of each step in advance on the SiteBuilder Noticeboard.
May/June 2026
Inform users of the impending retirement of the old editors
In addition to this page and communication via the SiteBuilder Noticeboard, we'll be adding an information banner to the Editing screen within SiteBuilder. Users who edit a page in the old visual editor or raw editor will also see an alert with details of the impending retirement.
June 2026
Add a site setting to allow admins to disable the old editors
We'll add new options for site admins to prevent:
- Creation of new Classic editor pages.
- Use of the old visual editor or raw editor.
July 2026
Change the default setting to prevent the creation of new Classic editor pages
We'll globally switch the default setting for all sites to prevent the creation of new Classic editor pages. At this stage, site admins will still be able to manually change this setting, if required.
August 2026
Remove the option to create new Classic editor pages
We'll remove the setting from the site admin dashboard. When creating a new SiteBuilder page, the only option will be to use the Components Editor.
Note: Any existing pages will remain as they are at this stage, and will still be editable in the old visual editor or raw editor for a short time. We strongly recommend that you begin to convert pages to the Components Editor as early as possible, however, especially those with important content or complex layouts.
Go.Warwick redirects to require a Components Editor page as the target
After this phase, new requests for Go.Warwick redirects will only be approved in cases where the target URL is a Components Editor page.
Update the SiteBuilder API to create pages with the Components Editor
From this time, new pages created via the SiteBuilder API will use the Components Editor.
September 2026
Change default site setting to prevent use of old editors
We'll globally switch the default setting for all sites to prevent the use of the old visual editor and raw editor when editing a page. Site admins will have the option to re-enable the old editors, if required, but at this stage we strongly recommend conversion of all actively maintained site content to the Components Editor.
Note: We're aware that it's not currently possible to convert old 'staff filter' pages. We'll implement a solution for this, via conversion to an item filter page, before we complete this step.
October 2026
Remove the option to edit pages using the old visual editor and raw editor
We'll remove the option to re-enable the old editors. From this point, it will only be possible to edit page content using the Components Editor. Existing pages created with the old visual editor or raw editor will need to be converted to the Components Editor before they can be edited.
Important: We have no plans to enforce conversion of pages to the Components Editor in cases where content does not need to be edited or updated. Existing pages with archived or static content will remain as they are.
Providing feedback
If there are any obstacles to you using the Components Editor, please let us know via the SiteBuilder feedback form.