The Ultimate Custom Font Guide in 2020

The Ultimate Custom Font Guide in 2020

The seemingly insignificant details in typography often make a difference when creating website content, an eLearning course, or trying to build your brand. Choosing the right font, for example, can impact your website’s presentation or improve your branding campaign. Fonts can also bring out the aesthetic appeal of your content while increasing the time visitors spend on your site.  Though selecting and installing the ideal WordPress font can be a difficult task, the advantages of nailing the process are unmatched. Enhanced readability, brand imaging, and unique design in marketing are some of the benefits. Below is a detailed guide to using the Custom Fonts WordPress plugin.

WordPress plugins are apps or pieces of software that enable one to create additional features and functionality to your WordPress website. That said, custom font plugin is open source software which allows you to add custom font files to your WordPress website. The plugin supports font files in woff, woff2, svg, ttf, otf, and eot formats. The integration process is seamless since the plugin is easily compatible with WordPress websites.

Although WordPress offers a decent variety of fonts, different ways have emerged to increase your font selections. Today, you can choose fonts that fit your audience and niche from hundreds of exciting custom options.

Currently, the plugin supports four WordPress page builders. They include Astra Theme, Elementor Page Builder, Beaver Builder Plugin, and Beaver Builder Theme.

How Do I Use Custom Font WordPress Plugin?

Usually, the 3-steps procedure is simple for those who are relatively familiar with WordPress plugins. If you are still trying to get the hang of it, this guide will provide you with some important insights. To start, you will need to install the plugin, then upload the font files, and lastly confirm whether the fonts have been added successfully in the settings.

Installing the Plugin

Before installing the plugin, you need to make sure that you are downloading the fonts from reputable sources. This helps in ensuring the downloaded fonts are compatible with your WordPress website. To guarantee a streamlined installation, use Google Fonts, which is an excellent font repository, and it’s free to use! There are other excellent font repositories such as Adobe Fonts that you can use; this is only a guide.

Though there are other ways to add custom fonts to your WordPress website, installing the WordPress plugin is by far the easiest and the most used method. Assuming you want to use Google Fonts, you should download and install the Google Fonts for WordPress plugin. After successfully installing and activating the software, you will have access to over 900 font families to choose from. Worth noting, save the files that you select in woff, woff2, svg, ttf, and eot format

Unlike other methods of adding custom fonts to your WordPress website, installing the plugin does not require you to add any code to your site for activation. The two typical copy and paste methods include editing your theme’s file (involves third-party repositories) and uploading your font’s file to your theme’s folder.

Uploading the font files

After successfully installing the plugin, upload the saved plugin files to the custom font directory. Alternatively, you can also upload and activate the files through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress website directly.  It’s advisable to upload as many file formats as possible to increase their chances of compatibility with different browsers.

Once you have installed the WordPress plugin, follow the following steps. In the settings section, proceed to the ‘Appearance’ then to ‘Customizer Fonts’ page to open the live theme customizer interface.  Here, you will see custom typographies, which will demonstrate to you the various sections where the fonts can be applied in your website.

Once you find the section to edit, click on ‘Edit Font’ and select the custom font that you want to use. Here, you can customise the font size, font style, margin, padding, and other features. Once you have done this correctly, you will have access to hundreds of custom font selections to choose from.

Lastly, check whether your uploaded fonts are functional by applying them to the specific sections of your website. To confirm this, website owners/developers using Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Astra will see the added fonts in the settings section. Users who are using different themes and plugins other than the three stated above can write the custom CSS to embed their custom fonts.

What are the Advantages of Using a Custom Font WordPress Plugin?

The Plugin is Easy to Use

Unlike other methods of adding fonts, plugins are the easiest and the most used by website developers. They do not require copy and pasting of font codes from third parties and other font repositories. The fonts configuration process is simple and almost self-explanatory, but with a simple guide.

Easy to Install

The installation process is automated with no manual configuration. The installed plugin integrates seamlessly with any WordPress website. This ensures that your custom font will be easy to read, fit in the general style of your website, and exists harmoniously with other fonts existing on your website. The different file formats supported by the plugin helps to keep your content compatible with various mobile devices.

They are Free to Use

Custom fonts WordPress plugin is an open source software that any user can download for free. This is certainly economical for companies dealing with content publications and commercial projects.

Disadvantages

They are Vulnerable to Exploitation

Hackers can find a vulnerability in plugin and use it to exploit your website. Mostly, this happens when the plugin is not updated regularly. According to a 2019 report, plugins contributed to 54% of all reported WordPress hacks. Always keep your plugin updated and install updates from secure sources.

Plugins Can Slow Down Page Loading Speed

Though this can go unnoticed, loading many files to your website can slow down its page speed. Generally, each plugin in WordPress involves additional JavaScript and CSS files, which can take the page longer to load.