Blogging Tip: How to Change Your Blog Font

Before changing your template, always download a backup!

Changing your blog font always comes with a Caveat –

People who visit your blog will only be able to view the fonts that are coded on their own computer. So even if you love fonts, and collect them by the dozen, you really are limited to the basic set of fonts that come standard on most computers. If you pick an obscure font and code only that font, only YOU will be able to read your blog.

It is always smart to choose several fonts. When your readers visit your blog, their computers will read your code and pick the first matching font it can find and display that font.

To change the display of your font, find the code that looks like this (your fonts listed may be different!):

<Variable name="bodyfont" description="Text Font" type="font" default="normal normal 100% Georgia, Serif" value="normal normal 109% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

<Variable name="headerfont" description="Sidebar Title Font" type="font" default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,Sans-serif" value="italic normal 78% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

<Variable name="pagetitlefont" description="Blog Title Font" type="font" default="normal normal 200% Georgia, Serif" value="normal normal 200% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

<Variable name="descriptionfont" description="Blog Description Font" type="font" default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

<Variable name="postfooterfont" description="Post Footer Font" type="font" default="normal normal 78% 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Verdana, Sans-serif" value="normal normal 78% Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

So now let’s say you want your blog to display the fonts: Lucida Calligraphy, Comic Sans MS or Baskerville Old Face. And, for convenience, let’s say that was your order of preference. This means, first the computer will look for Lucida Calligraphy, if it finds it, it will display… if not, it will look for Comic Sans MS, etc.

Keep the current fonts listed. They are a good back-up! Nearly every computer in the world has either Times or Georgia (serif) or Arial, Trebuchet or Verdana (Sans Serif). Above all, you want your blog readable.

Change EACH CODE you found above to include the new font names, like this (I only changed the first example, for brevity!):

<Variable name="bodyfont" description="Text Font" type="font" default="normal normal 100% Lucida Calligraphy, Co
9;ic Sans MS, Baskerville Old Face, Georgia, Serif" value="normal normal 109% Lucida Calligraphy, Comic Sans MS, Baskerville Old Face, Trebuchet, Trebuchet MS, Arial, sans-serif">

Click preview to make sure it looks the way you want. If so, save and viola’! You now have a custom font for your blog.

You can read other blogging tips like centering images or changing font size and color by clicking here.

Now go get techie with yer bad self.