Gutenberg: Why can I only replace content and not just edit it?

[mapk]

Problem

Edit vs. Replacing content
I noticed while testing the Query block that I was able to click into the Post Excerpt block as if I could edit the content. After clicking into the block, it turned grey as if disabled. Rather than editing the content, it appears I was able to replace it completely. Is this right?

Publishing panel changes are unclear
The changes then also showed in the Publish panel, but denoted that a "Page" changed and gave me the page ID, I think? Seeing a number there was not very helpful. I was confused if it was alerting me to the page I had just replaced content on, or what?

Example of problem

Expectation

I expect that if I'm able to click into a block, I should be able to edit the content, and not just replace it. Replacing it felt really odd. If I can't edit the content in place, then I shouldn't be able to click into it, IMO.

[ntsekouras]

Hey @mapk!

Rather than editing the content, it appears I was able to replace it completely. Is this right?

This behavior was for posts that didn't have the excerpt field explicitly set and is extracted from post content. I believe the proper behavior is to edit this extracted excerpt and edit it, if you want to change it, as you propose. After the update any change in the excerpt is synced with the excerpt field in the respective post.

Publishing panel changes are unclear

This is an issue of its own and I agree with you. I'll look into it.

[mapk]

This behavior was for posts that didn't have the excerpt field explicitly set and is extracted from post content.

Ah! Okay, I was very worried that my changes were eliminating the post content. I don't think the user will notice that they're editing the Post Excerpt in this case. So we probably need to design a solution that doesn't leave the user feeling like they've changed their entire post.

[ntsekouras]

I think it's clear that in Post Excerpt block we are editing the excerpt, no?

[mapk]

@ntsekouras yes! I dropped a comment on the PR.