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Noel Tock
Global Blocks are currently used in such a manner that they are "left unprotected", i.e. it's not immediately evident that they are a Global Block. This is partly due to how the default Block Editor has a sort of fog of war, i.e. you need to move over/into the block to see clearly (whereas third party editors have varying visual cues to assist without having to engage with the block).
We should find a way to protect users from inadvertently editing content which may be far more complex (i.e. not realising there are potentially other variants at play, or that this block is used elsewhere, etc.). This also has the added benefit of giving the user an understanding of what is truly page-specific content (and thus lowering the cognitive load, which is heavy enough with the block editor).
I would like to propose a sort of smart locking mechanism, whereby:
  • Anytime you edit a page where Global Blocks are present, you need to unlock them with a simple click or mechanism.
  • In order to do that, you need to hover over the Global Block in question where you will already see visual cues that this is a global block.
  • Understanding that, you can then unlock the block for this particular page-editing session (reloading the page defaults back to being locked).
Sidenote, I also like the unlocking mechanism of Miro.