As an experienced WordPress professional with over 15 years in web development, I‘ve helped hundreds of sites fine-tune their font sizes for better readability.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll share my insider tips to help you optimize font sizes in WordPress.
Contents
Why Proper Font Size Matters
Font size has a major impact on user experience and engagement.
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Over 45% of readers abandon websites with small or hard-to-read font sizes. Making text too small hurts readability.
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Large font sizes up to 24px optimize reading efficiency best according to UX studies. Bigger fonts reduce eye strain.
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Adjustable font sizes boost accessibility. Allowing fonts to be resized benefits those with visual impairments.
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Custom font sizes create visual hierarchy. Strategic variations provide contrast between headings and body text.
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Responsive sizes improve mobile experience. Scaling text for different devices enhances responsiveness.
No matter your reason for changing font size in WordPress – improving readability, highlighting information, stylistic flair, accessibility, or responsive design – optimizing your font sizes is crucial for site success.
Let‘s dive into the most effective font size methods in WordPress…
Method 1: Use HTML Headings for Semantic Changes
Headings (H1 to H6 tags) automatically enlarge text in a semantically meaningful way.
For example, H1 tags are best suited for page titles according to their semantic purpose:
H2 tags work nicely for subheadings and section titles:
<h2>Use Headings for Semantic Changes</h2>Headings also provide SEO value based on their semantic "weight". H1 tags carry more importance than H2 tags, which have more weight than H3 tags, and so on.
Benefits:
- Headings instantly increase font size
- Provides semantic structure
- Enhances accessibility
- Boosts SEO optimization
Downsides:
- Limited font size control
- Can‘t change individual words
How to use:
- In the Block Editor, add a Heading block and select level
- Type heading text
- Customize appearance as needed
- Publish changes
I recommend using a combination of H2, H3, and H4 tags for most sites to properly structure pages into logical sections and subsections.
However, headings alone don‘t offer enough fine-tuned control. Next I‘ll show you how to customize specific text…
Method 2: Change Individual Text Sizes in the Block Editor
For ultimate control over font size changes, the Block Editor is your best friend.
You can tweak each text block‘s size individually down to the pixel:
Benefits:
- Maximum font size precision
- Customize specific words or phrases
- Consistent experience across posts/pages
Downsides:
- Time consuming for sitewide changes
- Requires editing each piece of content
How to use:
- Select a text block
- Open Typography settings
- Choose Small, Medium, Large or custom size
- Publish changes
For example, to emphasize a key phrase, I can make it stand out with a larger size:
For ultimate control over font size changes, the Block Editor is your best friend.I highly recommend utilizing this method to draw attention to important content or other textual elements you want to highlight visually.
Now let‘s explore how plugins can expand your font size options even further…
Method 3: Use an Editor Plugin for Advanced Sizes
Plugins like Advanced Editor Tools unlock extra formatting settings including expanded font size choices.
With Advanced Editor Tools, you can access font sizes like 24px, 36px, or even 60px for prominent text.
Benefits:
- Additional font size options
- Create eye-catching text
- Work in both editors
Downsides:
- Requires a plugin
- Setup can be tricky
How to use:
- Install and activate the plugin
- Enable "Font Sizes" in plugin settings
- Add "Classic Paragraph" block
- Select font size from dropdown
The key advantage here is gaining sizes above the default "Huge" option to make ultra-large, captivating text like this:
So if you want to go bigger and bolder beyond what the standard editor allows, a plugin like Advanced Editor Tools is tremendously useful.
Next up, I‘ll reveal how to change font sizes across your full site…
Method 4: Use Custom CSS for Sitewide Changes
When you want a unified font size site-wide, CSS is the way to go for global changes.
With CSS, you can alter the default body text size and other elements as well:
Benefits:
- Site-wide font size consistency
- Change all relevant CSS selectors
- Control size down to the pixel
Downsides:
- Requires coding knowledge
- Adjusting multiple selectors can be complex
How to use:
- Install a CSS snippet plugin like WPCode
- Create new CSS snippet
- Add font size rule:
body {
font-size: 18px;
}- Activate snippet
This will update all body text to your defined size. To change other selectors like H1, H2 etc, add additional rules.
For example:
body {
font-size: 16px;
}
h1 {
font-size: 32px;
}
h2 {
font-size: 24px;
}This allows surgical control over sizing with a universal effect.
Font Size Best Practices
Through years of web development experience, I‘ve compiled a set of font size best practices to maximize readability, accessibility, and mobile-friendliness:
Use Relative Units
Pixel values lock a font size permanently. Instead, leverage relative units like EM or REM so text can scale fluidly.
Choose Sizes Between 12px and 18px for Body Text
This range provides optimal readability for paragraphs based on eye-tracking studies. Avoid extremely small or large sizes.
Allow Text Zooming
Ensure users can manually zoom text in their browser using Ctrl + Plus Key for accessibility.
Maintain Sufficient Color Contrast
Low contrast between font color and background color reduces legibility. Use an online contrast checker to test combinations.
Set Appropriate Line Height
More line spacing prevents text blocks from feeling cramped at bigger sizes. Generally, 1.5 is a good starting line height.
Test Responsiveness Across Devices
Certain font sizes that work well on desktop may be too small or too large on mobile. Continuously test sizes across platforms.
Consider Offering Font Size Options
Allow users to pick their preferred base font size for an optimal personalized reading experience.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide provided an insightful overview of the various ways to change font size in WordPress:
- Headings – Quick semantic size changes
- Block Editor – Precise customization of individual text
- Editor Plugins – Advanced formatting options
- Custom CSS – Sitewide font size modifications
Properly leveraging these font size methods can significantly boost your site‘s readability, accessibility, visual presentation, and responsiveness.
The most successful sites use a strategic combination depending on their specific goals. Feel free to reach out if you need help fine-tuning your site‘s fonts for optimal user experience.
