Thanks to Melissa Barham for today’s guest post! Check out her blog at http://melissabarham.com for more great WordPress tutorials.
Have you ever wondered how to add a bit more personality to your blog?
How about customizing your font? Customizing your font can be a great way to dress up your blog while adding some personality at the same time. Thanks to Google’s Web Fonts you have hundreds of choices at your finger tips… err, at your keyboard. :)
If you’ve looked at Google’s Web Font directory in the past you might have had some second thoughts when you realized you’d need to add that line of ‘import’ code in your theme’s files to make it all work. Sure that font is pretty great but it just wasn’t worth the chance that you might ‘mess up’ your really great theme.
Guess what? There are several plugins that will allow you to add Google’s Web Fonts to your blog without modifying your theme’s files. Yay!
Today I’m going to share with you a really great plugin called “Google Typography.” You can find Google Typography in the WordPress Plugin Directory or search for it by accessing ‘Add New’ under the ‘Plugins’ menu in your WordPress installation. (Make sure you’ve recently backed up your WordPress installation and your database before adding a new plugin! One can never have too many backups).
Once you’ve installed the plugin and activated it (in just a couple clicks) your screen will look like this:
Now, check out this awesome video tutorial the by creators of the plugin:
Google Typography from Eric Alli on Vimeo.
Pretty simple, isn’t it? This plugin is a great option if you’re not up for adding the import code into your blog theme files (or if you haven’t a clue how to go about that).
Bonus Design Tip:
Google Fonts allows you to download any of their web fonts so if you plan to use them on your website you can also download the particular font to use in your business related documents. (click the image to view it full size).
Do you use Google Fonts on your website? Personally, I use them on my own site and I’ve also used them on multiple client sites. It’s nice to have the ability to add a bit more flare or personality to a site with custom fonts. :)
Guest post by Melissa Barham: Saving entrepreneurs from the dreaded curse of client-repelling WordPress and social media designs. Learn more here: http://www.MelissaBarham.com/
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This is pretty cool. I use a different software than WordPress who has awesome plugins. I will share this idea with my persnickety admin who keeps me from messing up more than I would do all by myself.
Thanks for all of the wonderful things you are sharing during this challenge.
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for keeping us in the loop with blog design just as Melissa keeps us in the loop re: blog content. Now I’m eager to check out the Google Typography site and explore new fonts on my sites.
Thanks M&M (Michelle and Melissa) for sharing this information.
I use Thesis on my main blog and it has options for different fonts that I experimented with recently. But Google Fonts offers so much more. And the plugin makes it easy to experiment.
You’re welcome, Adalia! :) Google Fonts has such a great selection, it’s fun to experiment and sometimes a new font can be just enough to give your website a little facelift if you’re looking to change it up a bit.
Great advice as always! And one I’ll be bookmarking to share because just this week 3 people asked me about choosing fonts. So much easier to share your post than writing silly responses with my thumbs on my smartphone :)
Awesome, Loralee — I’m glad it will save you some time. :)
This is very interesting! Very informative and very useful too. Thank you for sharing this cool post.
Never think of this before. I choose fonts that easy to read based on others recommendation. Fonts that are used by newspapers are great alternative to select since many eyes have get used with it. Google fonts? Sounds great since I am on wordpress too … Going to check for this. Thanks Michelle and Melissa
Brilliant…just installed it and love it…a little change makes a big difference… great tip and great post…thanks ;)
That’s awesome Sarupa! I’m glad you’re loving the plugin. :)
being frank i must tell i was not aware of Google typography service..
Hi Melissa, Great guest post! I’m a big fan of fonts, they can make a big different in the readability of articles. My theme comes with a wide selection of fonts, including Google fonts, but it’s great to know there is a plugin, in case I switch themes.
I use Helvetica, which is a Google font, but my theme distinguishes between Google fonts and web-safe fonts. Is there a risk in using Google fonts that some people won’t see that font?
You also should check out Fount http://fount.artequalswork.com/ that helps you identify fonts on websites so if you see a font you like, you can identify it.
Thanks, Michelle, for having Melissa at your site!
Carolyn,
That is a great question– One of the great things about Google Fonts is that because they’re all hosted online by google they should load for anyone, the browser will pull that font from google font’s source– It doesn’t need to be installed on their own computer at all. It even works on smart phones and tablets. :)
Fount looks like a neat tool, I had not seen that before.
-Melissa
Hi Michelle,
Awesome guide indeed. It’s a great idea to implement Google Typography or Web fonts to our blog CSS. It will certainly intrigue our readers with uniqueness.
I guess it is also possible without a plugin, Right?
Gautham,
Yes, there are directions on the Google Web Fonts site for importing the code through your WordPress theme files and style sheets. If you’re proficient with CSS and comfortable modifying your theme’s codes you can skip the plugin all together. :)
-Melissa
I use Thesis on my main blog and it has options for different fonts that I experimented with recently. But Google Fonts offers so much more. And the plugin makes it easy to experiment.
I have never used any other font in my WordPress site. Generally I use default font in my site. But the fonts you mentioned seems very attractive. I love to use in my site too.
Very nice tips.
i think an unique font can make your blog more different from the others and can effectively work in this competition those day.Can’t wait to design my own.
thanks for your sharing
Stephan
Great information I had always assumed that it would require coding knowledge to change fonts so thank you I will download the plugin and take a look.
Be sure am going to try this when am on my dashboard. It is really nice. Thanks for sharing with us.~ Anetta
Fonts that are used by newspapers are great alternative to select since many eyes have get used with it.
Thanx for sharing.
Cool. Installing this plugin on my WP blog now.