What’s Coming in WordPress 6.5 (Features and Screenshots)

WordPress has released the beta for the release of version 6.5 for testing.

We have been watching the development closely and are quite excited to report on all the new features expected to be released in this version.

It will be the first major WordPress update of 2024, and many people have done significant work on it.

Let’s look at some of those amazing features and enhancements that are coming in WordPress.

What to expect from the upcoming WordPress 6.5 release

Note: Using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, you can try out the beta version on your computer or a staging environment. Please keep in mind that some of the features in the beta may not make it into the final release.

Here is a quick overview of changes coming in WordPress 6.5:

The Fonts Library

Earlier, we reported that Font Library will be included in WordPress 6.4. However, it was postponed and wasn’t included in the final release.

We are glad to report that it will be included in the WordPress 6.5.

This will allow users to manage fonts used in their WordPress theme and across their website.

Users can view the Font Library under the Styles panel in the site editor. Switch to the Typography view and then click on the Manage Fonts button.

Managing fonts library in WordPress 6.5

This will bring up the Fonts popup.

By default, it will show you currently installed fonts for your WordPress theme. You can switch to the Upload tab to upload more fonts from your computer.

Installed fonts available with your WordPress theme

Want to use privacy-friendly Google Fonts for your website?

Switch to the Install Fonts tab to connect your website to Google Fonts.

View and install Google Fonts

You’ll then be able to browse Google fonts.

Search the font you want to install and then select the variation. Finally, click on the Install button to locally host the font and serve it from your website.

Browse and select Google Fonts

This will help site owners customize their site’s typography with custom fonts for their existing theme.

Custom Fields for Blocks

Another exciting feature that is debuting in WordPress 6.5 is the ability to associate custom fields with block attributes.

Custom fields in WordPress have been around for a very long time. They allow you to add custom metadata to your WordPress posts, pages, and other content types.

Now, developers and advanced users will be able to associate custom fields data to individual block attributes.

However, these connections are not just limited to custom fields. The block binding API introduced for this functionality also makes it possible to use other sources to provide dynamic data for blocks.

For those who want to test it out, add these two custom fields to your post:

  • mood
  • weather

You can see in the image below the custom fields interface:

Adding custom fields

Then, switch to the code editor view and add the following code inside a text field.

<!-- wp:paragraph {"metadata":{"bindings":{"content":{"source":"core/post-meta","args":{"key":"mood"}}}}} -->
<p></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

<!-- wp:paragraph {"metadata":{"bindings":{"content":{"source":"core/post-meta","args":{"key":"weather"}}}}} -->
<p></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->

Now save your changes.

Adding bindings code to a block

Next, you can preview your post to see the custom fields in action.

The theme should simply output the values of your meta keys.

Preview

This is just a very basic example.

Developers would be able to do much more by showing connections in the editor and the ability to choose dynamic values from a drop-down menu by registering those connections.

Plugin Dependencies

Some WordPress plugins depend on other WordPress plugins to provide certain functionalities.

For example, a WooCommerce payment addon would require WooCommerce to be installed for it to work.

Plugin authors can now add a Requires Plugins entry into the plugin header and mention the plugins required to be installed and activated for their plugin to work.

Required plugins to install

Those plugins will then need to be installed and activated by the user.

Once all the required plugins are activated, the user will be able to activate the main plugin that needs them.

Cannot be deactivated

The required plugins cannot be deactivated until the plugin dependent on those plugins is deactivated first.

Prior to WordPress 6.5, if a user installed such a plugin and activated it, they will see an error page.

Dependency error wall

This error page does not tell users which plugins to install or have instructions to go back to the plugins page. This feature is a big improvement in user experience.

Block Editor Improvements

The majority of WordPress users spend most of their time writing content, editing pages, and working with the block editor.

This is why each WordPress release has significant improvements and new features to improve the block editor.

WordPress 6.5 will be no different and is packing many enhancements to improve the content editing experience for all users.

Drop Shadow Effect

WordPress 6.5 will introduce a drop shadow effect for more blocks. Here are some of the blocks where users will be able to use the drop shadow effect.

  • Image
  • Columns and Column
  • Buttons

Simply click on the block and look for Border & Shadow under the Style Panel.

Drop shadow effect

Smarter Overlay Colors for Cover Blocks

The cover block can now select the overlay color automatically based on the background color of the image you choose.

Rename Any Block in the List View

WordPress 6.4 allowed users to rename Group blocks in the list view for a better understanding of what each group block contains.

WordPress 6.5 will take it to the next step and allow users to rename any block in the list view.

Rename any block

Right Click on a Block in List View to See Settings

Now previously, you needed to click on the three-dot menu next to a block to see its settings in the list view.

In WordPress 6.5, you can just right-click on any block to see its settings.

Right click to see block settings in list view

Link Control in 6.5 will highlight your blog and front-page pages with different icons to distinguish them.

Link control icons

Right after you add a link or when you click on a link, it will show you a context menu.

Here, users can see where that link goes. It will automatically fetch the linked page title, and show the action buttons to edit, unlink, or copy the link.

Link actions

Preferences Panel Updated

The preferences panel will be updated in WordPress 6.5.

It will now show Appearance and Accessibility panels and previous options are now better categorized.

Preferences Panel gets an update

Site Editor Changes

Site Editor is where users can make changes to their site, much like the former theme customizer.

This release will come with several improvements to the site editor.

Synced Patterns Get More Powers

Synced patterns help website owners create patterns to reuse later across their websites.

With WordPress 6.5, users will be able to override locked synced patterns for individual use cases.

For instance, a pattern for product review where a user wants to be able to edit the Pros and Cons but not the layout of the pattern.

To test it, add a synced pattern to a post and click on the Edit Original button.

Edit original

This will open the isolated pattern edit mode.

From here, click on the block that you want to override. Then, under the block settings expand the Advanced panel and check the box next to the Allow Instance Overrides option.

Allow instance overrides

This feature allows you to create synced patterns that need to be edited based on the context in which they are used.

Data View Enhancements

WordPress 6.5 will bring a better way to view your pages, patterns, and templates with in site editor.

You can view items in Grid view with large previews and sort them in different orders.

Data set views in WordPress 6.5

You can also see items in the table view.

For instance, you see your page list and start editing them without leaving site editor.

Pages view

Improved Style Revisions

Previously, Style revisions showed a timeline and you had to browse through it to see what changes were applied.

WordPress 6.5 will bring better style revisions which show you a description of changes made for each revision.

Style revision descriptions

The browsing between different revisions will also become smoother. You can also switch to a revision by clicking on Apply button.

You will also see the changes that were made but not Saved yet.

Unsaved changes or apply a previous version

The Interactivity API

Another exciting feature making its way into WordPress 6.5 is the Interactivity API.

The API provides a framework for developers to create modern front-end interfaces that don’t require complete page reloads.

This enables developers to create user experiences that are more ‘Interactive’ than old-school web pages.

Think of reading comments on your favorite blog, and a new comment just pops up as you are writing your own reply. Or, imagine a live search feature that doesn’t slow down your website.

The team working on the project has made a demo website to showcase its capabilities.

Interactivity API demo

Miscellaneous Under-The-Hood Changes

WordPress 6.5 release will be packed with changes targeted at developers or behind-the-scenes improvements. Let’s look at some of them:

  • Performance improvements: The Block and Site Editors will load two times faster and the input time will be four times faster than WordPress 6.4. (Details)
  • An improved library is introduced to load translations much faster. (Details)
  • Classic themes can now add support for appearance tools. (Details)

Overall, the beta release includes 681 enhancements and 488 bug fixes for the editor, including about 229 tickets for WordPress 6.5 Core.

We hope this article helped you discover what’s new in WordPress 6.5 and which new features to try out. We are particularly excited about the interactivity API and the glimpses of a future admin redesign.

While you’re digging into the nuts and bolts of WordPress, you may also want to check out our look at how to install WordPress the right way and the most common WordPress errors and how to fix them.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What’s Coming in WordPress 6.5 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.

What’s Coming in WordPress 6.4 (Features and Screenshots)

WordPress 6.4 beta was released recently. We have been closely monitoring the development and testing it out.

It will be the third major release of 2023 and will ship with significant new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements.

In this article, we’ll show you what’s coming in WordPress 6.4 with details and screenshots.

What's coming in WordPress 6.4

Here is a quick overview of changes coming in WordPress 6.4:

Note: Using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, you can try out the beta version on your computer or a staging environment. Please keep in mind that some of the features in the beta may not make it into the final release.

Twenty Twenty-Four Is The New Default Theme

It is a WordPress tradition to add a new default theme each year. Usually, it comes with the last release of the year.

WordPress 6.4 will ship with Twenty Twenty-Four, as the new default theme.

Keeping up the design philosophy of the previous default theme (Twenty Twenty-Three), the new theme will feature a minimalist layout out of the box.

Twenty Twenty-Four preview

However, don’t let its minimalist appearance deceive you. This powerful theme is packed with features.

It is made to work well with the Site Editor and ships with 6 style variations to choose from.

Twenty Twenty-Four Styles

It also includes dozens of WordPress block patterns to use with the site editor or when writing posts and pages.

These patterns include several section patterns that help you quickly add entire sections to your pages or templates.

Twenty Twenty-Four patterns

It also ships with four fonts that you can use when working on your site. This brings us to the next exciting feature expected to be released in 6.4, the Font Library.

Manage Fonts Across Your Website with Font Library

WordPress 6.4 will include the new Font Library feature. This will allow users to manage fonts used in their WordPress theme and across their website.

Users will be able to view the Font Library under the Styles panel in the site editor. They will also be able to add or remove fonts to their website.

Launch Font Library

Clicking on the Fonts icon on the panel will bring up the Font Library.

From here, you can upload fonts directly from your computer.

Upload fonts from your computer

Want to use Google Fonts locally? Font Library will allow users to download and install Google Fonts on their WordPress website.

This will connect to Google servers only once to download the font files. After that, fonts will be served from your own servers.

Install Google fonts

Enlarge Images with Lightbox Popup

Want to open your WordPress images in a lightbox popup?

WordPress 6.4 will allow users to enable lightbox popups for images in their posts and pages.

Expand on Click

After adding an image, you can toggle the Expand on Click option under the block settings to open it in a lightbox popup.

This simple image popup will let your users enlarge images without leaving a page.

Image lightbox preview

It is still very basic and in the early stages of development. For instance, for the Gallery block, you’ll have to set it for each individual image instead of the whole gallery.

If you need a better user experience with beautiful image galleries, we recommend using Envira Gallery or NextGen.

These are the best WordPress photo gallery plugins for photographers and portfolio websites with beautiful lightbox popups, animations, slideshows, gallery styles, and more.

Improved Command Palette

WordPress 6.3 came with a new command palette tool, which allowed users to quickly type in commands using the keyboard shortcut CTRL+K.

WordPress 6.4 will come with several improvements to the tool and new keyboard shortcuts. First, there is a subtle design update, which makes elements slightly darker.

Command palette design update

Secondly, there are new commands and actions introduced to work with blocks. You can duplicate, transform, delete, or insert blocks from the command palette.

For instance, you can now select multiple blocks and transform them using the command palette.

Block actions in command palette

Block Editor Enhancements

This release primarily focuses on improving and extending existing site and block editor features. The groundwork for phase 3 of the Gutenberg project has begun, which will focus more on collaboration.

WordPress 6.4 will merge several Gutenberg (the project name for the block editor) releases into the core. Each one of them includes several new features and enhancements.

Following are some of the more noticeable enhancements in Block Editor.

Block Hooks

WordPress 6.4 will bring Block Hooks functionality for developers. This would allow plugins to automatically add blocks upon activation.

Named after hooks used in WordPress core, block hooks will enable plugin developers to interact with the block editor and extend blocks without touching them.

For instance, a membership plugin can now add a login button in the navigation menu.

The block panel will show you which blocks are added by plugins and you will be able to turn them off/on.

Disable auto-inserted blocks

Background Images for Group Block

Grouping blocks is the easiest way to create different sections of a layout in the post or full site editor.

Previously, users were only able to select background and text colors for the entire group block. WordPress 6.4 will also allow you to set a background image.

Setting background image for the Group block

Improved Toolbars for Parent / Child Blocks

When working with blocks that have child blocks, the toolbar kept moving and changing as you moved around blocks.

This didn’t produce an ideal user experience for blocks like Navigation, List, and Quote.

WordPress 6.4 will now automatically attach the child toolbar to the parent and create a consistent user experience as you move around the inner blocks.

Consistent toolbar

The Outline / List View Revamped

The List view shows you a quick outline of your page or post layout in site/block editor.

List view in WordPress editor

WordPress 6.4 will improve the list view by adding some cool new features.

First, you can now rename Group blocks in the list view. This would help you identify what each group block does and will make your layouts more readable.

Rename a group block

It will also show previews for images and gallery blocks.

This is immensely helpful and makes the outline view a much more useful tool than ever before. Previously it just said ‘Image ‘and you had to click to select the block and view which image is there.

Image previews in List View

Improved Pattern Management

In the previous WordPress release, Reusable Blocks were merged into Patterns, and a new pattern management screen was added to the site editor.

WordPress 6.4 will come with improvements to the pattern management in site editor.

You will now be able to add pattern categories when creating a new pattern.

Creating new pattern in WordPress 6.4

The Pattern creation modal will look the same across WordPress.

Inside the Site Editor, the Patterns tab will now show your patterns organized in categories.

Patterns organized in categories

In the previous WordPress release, the link preview control (the popup that appears when you add a link in WordPress) moved the option to ‘Open in new tab’ under the Advanced toggle.

Open in new tab - WordPress 6.3

This meant that users were required a few extra clicks to open a link in a new tab.

Based on user feedback a new checkbox is added in the link preview modal allowing users to easily open a link in a new tab.

Open in new tab in WordPress 6.4

Under The Hood Changes

WordPress 6.4 also includes several changes intended for developers. Here are some of the most significant under-the-hood changes.

  • TEMPLATEPATH and STYLESHEETPATH constants are deprecated. (#18298)
  • Framework to add revisions for post meta in WordPress. (#20564)
  • Theme developers can configure their own default min and max viewport widths for calculating fluid font sizes. (#59048)
  • A block hook field is added to block types. (#59346)

We hope this article helped you discover what’s new in WordPress 6.4 and which new features to try out. We are particularly excited about all the changes to the site editor.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What’s Coming in WordPress 6.4 (Features and Screenshots) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add Affiliate Disclosure for Each Blog Post Automatically

Do you want to add an affiliate disclosure for each blog post automatically?

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest ways to make money online. However, if you don’t disclose your affiliate links then you could end up in legal trouble.

In this article, we will show you how you can add an affiliate disclosure to all your WordPress blog posts.

How to add affiliate disclosure for each blog post automatically

Why Add an Affiliate Disclosure to Each WordPress Blog Post?

With affiliate marketing, you earn a commission every time someone clicks a referral link and makes a purchase. It’s a great way to make money online blogging with WordPress.

However, you must make it clear that your links are paid advertisements by adding an affiliate disclaimer. That just means posting a short notice explaining what affiliate marketing is, and that you get money from talking about the product or service.

Many countries have laws about failing to disclose paid endorsements. For example in the United States, you might get a fine from the Federal Trade Commission. You may even end up banned from reputable networks such as Amazon affiliates.

Even if you don’t get into legal trouble, customers who click on undisclosed affiliate links may feel tricked and stop visiting your WordPress website.

How to Add an Affiliate Disclosure to Each WordPress Blog Post

One option is to publish the affiliate disclaimer on its own page, as we do on WPBeginner.

The WPBeginner affiliate disclaimer page

You can then add a link to every page that features an affiliate URL. This may be a good choice if you have a longer disclosure and don’t want to distract from the post’s content.

If yours is short, then you can often add the full text of the disclaimer to every post.

An example affiliate disclaimer on a blog

No matter which option you choose, you can save time and effort by adding the affiliate disclosure automatically. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

Pretty Links is one of the best affiliate marketing plugins that can automate all your affiliate activities, including adding a disclosure.

Pretty Links comes with an advanced auto-linking feature that allows you to enter the keywords or phrases that you want to turn into affiliate URLs.

Every time you type this word or phrase, Pretty Links will turn it into an affiliate URL automatically. Even better, if you have created a disclosure notice page, Pretty Links can also add a link to it in the post.

For example, if you add “MacBook Pro” as a keyword and then use that phrase in a new post, then Pretty Links will automatically turn “MacBook Pro” into an affiliate URL and add a link to your disclosure notice page.

An affiliate disclaimer, created using Pretty Links

Note: Pretty Links won’t insert the disclosure link if you only add affiliate URLs manually. It only works when a post uses automatic keyword linking.

To get started, you’ll need to install and activate Pretty Links. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Pretty Links » Activate. You can then add your license key to the following field: ‘Enter Your Pretty Links Pro License Key.’

Activating the Pretty Links WordPress plugin

You can find this information under your account on the Pretty Links website. After typing in this information, click on the ‘Activate’ button.

With that done, you’ll need to go to Pretty Links » Add New and then add the first link you want to manage using the Pretty Links plugin.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to cloak affiliate links on your WordPress site.

How to cloak an affiliate link in WordPress with Pretty Links

After that, click on the ‘Pro’ tab. In the ‘Keywords’ field, type in each word or phrase where you want to automatically insert this affiliate URL.

Simply repeat this process for all your affiliate links.

Adding keywords to the Pretty Links affiliate linking plugin

Every time it adds this affiliate URL, Pretty Links will also add a link to your disclosure notice.

The next step is creating the disclosure notice page that Pretty Links will link to. Simply go to Pages » Add New. You can then type in your affiliate disclaimer and add any categories or tags that you want to use.

An example affiliate disclaimer

When you’re happy with your disclaimer, publish the page to make it live. It’s a good idea to make a note of the page’s URL, as you’ll need it in the next step.

Once you’ve done that, simply go to Pretty Links » Options. Then, click on the ‘Replacements’ tab.

Pretty Links' auto-linking and replacement settings

Here, check the ‘Enable Replacements’ box if it isn’t already selected.

After that, check the ‘Link to Disclosures’ box. In the ‘URL’ box, go ahead and enter your affiliate disclosure URL.

Pretty Links Disclosure Notice

By default, Pretty Links will use ‘Affiliate Link Disclosures’ as your link’s text. However, you can change this to anything you want by typing into the ‘Text’ field.

You can also change where Pretty Links adds the affiliate disclaimer link. By default, it shows the URL at the bottom of the post, so it doesn’t distract visitors from the post’s content.

Another option is to add the disclaimer to the top of the post. This is where we include it on WPBeginner.

WPBeginner Disclosure Notice

This lets visitors know the post contains an affiliate link before they start reading, which is a good way to build trust with your audience. However, some people may see the disclaimer and decide not to stay on the page, which can increase your bounce rate.

You can also add the disclaimer to both the top and bottom of each post. This may be a good idea if you write very long posts, but most sites don’t need multiple disclosures per page.

To place the affiliate URL, simply open the ‘Position’ dropdown and choose Bottom, Top, or Top and Bottom.

Changing where an affiliate disclaimer appears on your WordPress website

Once you’ve done that, just scroll to the bottom of the page.

Then, click on the ‘Update’ button.

Saving your Pretty Links settings

Now, Pretty Links will add an affiliate disclosure link every time it auto-inserts an affiliate URL to your posts, pages, or custom post types.

Method 2. Add Affiliate Disclosure Using WPCode (More Customizable)

Sometimes you may want to add the affiliate disclosure to different areas of every blog post. For example, you might show the disclosure after you mention each affiliate product for the first time.

In this case, you can create a shortcode that adds your affiliate disclaimer. This gives you complete control over where the disclosure appears, without you having to type the entire text every single time.

A custom shortcode created with WPCode

The easiest way to create a custom shortcode is using WPCode. This plugin lets you add code snippets to WordPress without editing your theme’s functions.php file.

WPCode also helps you avoid common errors by performing smart code snippet validation.

There are lots of ways to add an affiliate disclosure using WPCode. Besides the shortcode method, we’ll also share an easy way to automatically add the disclaimer to every post, page, or custom post type.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free WPCode plugin on your website. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.

Adding a custom code snippet to WordPress

This will bring you to the ‘Add Snippet’ page where you can see all the ready-made snippets that you can use on your site.

Since we want to add custom code in WordPress, hover your mouse over ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet).’ Then, click on ‘Use snippet’ when it appears.

Adding custom snippets to WordPress

To start, enter a title for the custom code snippet.

This could be anything that helps you identify the snippet in the WordPress admin area.

Adding a title to a WPCode custom code snippet

We’re going to add a PHP snippet, so open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and choose the ‘PHP Snippet’ option.

You can then go ahead and paste the following code into the code box:

function disclosure() {
    return "<p class='disclosure'>This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links.</p>";
}

add_shortcode( 'disclosure', 'disclosure' );

You can use any text as your affiliate disclaimer, simply by editing the code above. For example, you might want to add a link in HTML to your affiliate disclosure page.

Once you’ve done that, scroll to the ‘Insertion’ section and make sure ‘Auto Insert’ is selected.

Auto-inserting custom code snippets in WordPress

Then, open the ‘Location’ dropdown and choose ‘Frontend Only’ since we only want to use this code on our site’s frontend, which is what visitors see when they visit your site.

You can also organize your snippets by adding tags.

When you’re happy with how the snippet is set up, scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Save Snippet.’

Saving your WPCode snippet

After that, you can make the code snippet live by clicking the ‘Active’ toggle.

Finally, don’t forget to save the change by clicking on ‘Update.’

Updating a custom code snippet in WordPress

Now you can add the affiliate disclosure to any page, post, or custom post type using the [disclosure] shortcode. For more details on how to place the shortcode, you can see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

How to Automatically Display the Affiliate Disclosure with WPCode

With WPCode, there are lots of different ways to add an affiliate disclosure to your WordPress website, including automatically adding it to every post.

This can save you a lot of time and effort, since you don’t need to add the shortcode manually. However, the disclosure will appear in the same location on every page.

To automatically add the disclaimer, simply create a new custom code snippet by following the same process described above. However, this time open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and select ‘HTML Snippet.’

Adding an HTML snippet to WordPress

You can now add your disclaimer in the code editor, complete with the formatting that you want to use. For example, here we’re adding a simple disclaimer as a new paragraph:

<p>This site may contain links to affiliate websites, and we receive an affiliate commission for any purchases made by you on the affiliate website using such links.</p>

Next, scroll to the ‘Insertion’ section and open the ‘Location’ dropdown.

You can now choose where this disclaimer should appear, such as ‘Insert After Post’ or ‘Insert Before Content.’

Automatically inserting an affiliate disclaimer

You can then go ahead and enable the snippet by following the same process described above. WPCode will now automatically show the disclaimer on every page, post, and custom post type, without you having to add the shortcode manually.

Method 3. Add Affiliate Disclosure Using Full-Site Editor (Block-Enabled Themes Only)

If you’re using a block-based theme like Hestia Pro, then you can add an affiliate disclosure to your theme’s blog post template.

This is a good choice if you want to show the exact same disclosure on every blog post. However, you won’t have the option to change the style or text on individual posts, so it’s not a good choice if you want to show different information on different pages.

To use this method, go to Themes » Editor in the WordPress dashboard.

Opening the WordPress full-site editor (FSE)

By default, the full-site editor will show your theme’s home template, so you’ll typically want to select a new template.

If you want to show the affiliate disclosure across your entire website, then we recommend adding it to the footer template part. 

However, if you just want to show the disclaimer on your blog posts, then click on Templates on the left-hand side of the screen in the Design section.

Adding an affiliate disclosure using the full-site editor (FSE)

The editor will now show all the layouts that make up your WordPress theme.

Simply click go ahead and click on ‘Single.’

Adding an affiliate disclaimer to a WordPress blog post template

WordPress will now show a preview of the template.

To edit this template, go ahead and click on the small pencil icon.

Editing a blog post template in a block-enabled WordPress theme

With that done, click on the blue ‘+’ icon in the top left corner.

In the search bar that appears, type in ‘Paragraph’ to find the right block. 

Adding a Paragraph block to a full-site template

You can now drag and drop the block onto the area where you want to show the disclaimer. 

Now, click on the block and type in your affiliate disclaimer. 

Adding text to a WordPress blog template

You may also want to change how the disclaimer looks. 

To change the font size, background color, and more, simply click to select the paragraph block. Then, select the ‘Block’ tab in the right-hand menu.

Styling affiliate disclaimers using the WordPress FSE block-based editor

You can now change the background color and text color, or make the disclaimer bigger or smaller using the settings in the right-hand menu.

When you’re happy with how the disclaimer looks, click on the ‘Save’ button.

An example of an affiliate disclaimer, created using the FSE

Now, if you visit any blog post on your affiliate website, you’ll see the disclaimer in action. 

We hope this article helped you learn how to add affiliate disclosures for each blog post automatically. You can also go through our guide on the best giveaway and contest plugins and how to create an email newsletter the RIGHT way.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add Affiliate Disclosure for Each Blog Post Automatically first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Easily Add Bullet Points & Numbered Lists in WordPress

Do you want to add bullet points and numbered lists in WordPress?

Adding lists to your content helps improve readability of your site. They’re also a great way to share step-by-step instructions or complicated data with your visitors. Sometimes search engines can even give higher ranking to pages that use lists in their content.

In this article, we will show you how to easily add bullet points and numbered lists in WordPress with custom styles.

How to add bullet points and numbered lists in WordPress (beginner's guide)

Why Add Bullet Points and Numbered Lists in WordPress?

Instead of showing visitors a wall of text, we believe it’s a best practice to break your content into scannable sections. There are lots of ways to make your pages more reader-friendly including creating tables, using subheadings, adding videos, and creating lists.

A list can help visitors understand your content at a glance, even if you’re sharing complicated information or lots of data. This can improve the user experience and keep people on your website for longer.

They’re also ideal for creating to-do lists or sharing step-by-step instructions with your visitors. For example, you might turn a recipe into a numbered list on your food blog.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can add bullet points and numbered lists in WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

Method 1. Using the Built-in WordPress List Block (Easy)

The easiest way to add bullet points and numbered lists is by using the built-in List block and WordPress block editor.

This allows you to create simple lists without installing a separate WordPress plugin, although the default block only has a few customization options.

If you want to fine-tune every part of your lists with custom icons, horizontal layouts, different colors, and more, then we recommend using one of the other methods in this article.

To get started, simply open the post or page where you want to add a list. You can then choose whether to create a bullet point or numbered list.

How to Create a Bullet Point List in WordPress

To create a bullet point list, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block.

Adding a block to a WordPress website

In the popup that appears, type in ‘List.’

When the right block shows up, give it a click to add it to the page.

Adding a List block to a WordPress page or post

This creates the first item in a bullet point list. Simply type in the text you want to use for the first list item.

With that done, press the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard to move to the next line. WordPress will automatically create the second bullet point.

Adding a bullet point list to WordPress

You can now go ahead and type in the text you want to use for the second bullet point. Simply repeat these steps to add more items to the list.

If you want to create a nested list, then click the ‘Indent’ button. This moves the cursor one step to the right, ready for you to type in the indented text.

How to create a nested list in WordPress

You can click on the ‘Indent’ button again, to create two levels of nested bullet points.

As you can see in the following image, each level uses a different icon.

Creating an indented bullet point

To decrease the indent, click on the ‘Outdent’ button.

This moves the cursor one step to the left, ready for you to start typing.

Creating nested lists in WordPress using the indent and outdent buttons

By pressing the ‘Indent’ and ‘Outdent’ buttons, you can create nested lists with multiple different levels.

By default, WordPress will use the ‘Medium’ font size but you can switch between small, large, and extra large using the ‘Typography’ settings in the right-hand block options.

Changing the list styles in WordPress

You can also add links, or use the standard text formatting options, such as bold and italic.

How to Create a Numbered List in WordPress

To create a numbered list in WordPress, simply press the ‘1’ key on your keyboard followed by a full stop (.).

WordPress will automatically turn this text into the first item in a numbered list.

Creating a numbered list in WordPress

You’re now ready to type the first item in the numbered list.

After that, just press the ‘Return’ key on your keyboard and WordPress will create the next numbered point automatically.

Adding a numbered list to a website or blog

Just like with bullet points, you can create nested lists by clicking on the ‘Indent’ and ‘Outdent’ buttons.

This creates an indented bullet point, underneath the numbered bullet point.

Creating an indented numbered bullet list

Unlike bullet point lists, you can only use a single level of indenting.

When you’re happy with how the list looks, simply click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to make it live on your WordPress website.

Method 2. Using the Super List Block WordPress Plugin (Create Multimedia Lists)

The built-in List block is perfect for creating text-based lists, but sometimes you may want to include other content. For example, you might want to create a pricing table featuring images, text, and a call to action button.

The easiest way to do this is by using Super List Block. This free plugin adds a new block that allows you to use any WordPress block in your lists.

You can even create multimedia bullet points by adding multiple blocks to a single list item. In the following image, we’re using a Paragraph and Image block in each list item.

A multimedia list created using the Super List Block plugin

Super List Block also allows you to switch between vertical and horizontal list styles, and create ‘no marker’ lists that don’t have a bullet point icon or a number.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Super List Block plugin. If you need help, then please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After that, head over to the page or post where you want to add a list. You can then click on the ‘+’ icon and start typing in ‘Super List.’

When the right block appears, give it a click.

The Super List WordPress block

This adds a new block with two default list items.

To start, you can switch between horizontal and vertical layouts using the arrows in the toolbar and in the left-hand menu.

Switching between horizontal and vertical list layouts

You can also choose between a numbered or bullet point list using the icons under ‘Change List Style.’

Another option is ‘No Marker,’ which is a unique list style provided by the plugin.

How to create a no marker list using a free WordPress plugin

When you’re happy with how the list is configured, you’re ready to create your first item.

Simply click on the ‘+ button in the corner of the Super List block and choose the first block you want to add. Super List is compatible with all the default WordPress blocks, so you can add an image, heading, or any other block you want.

Adding blocks to a list item

You can then style the block as normal. For example, you might upload an image, add a download link, or type in some text.

To add another block to the bullet point, simply press the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard. This adds a new ‘Type / to choose a block’ line underneath the first block.

You can now click on the ‘+’ icon inside the list item and add another block following the same process described above.

Adding multiple blocks to a list item

When you’re happy with how the first list item is set up, you can configure the second default item by following the same steps.

To add more bullet points, you’ll need to select an entire list item. This can be a bit tricky, as you’ll need to select the item as a whole, rather than the individual blocks within that list item.

When you see an ‘+’ icon in the toolbar, you have the right item selected. With that done, simply go ahead and give the ‘+’ button a click.

Adding list items to a multimedia WordPress list

This adds a new, empty item to the list.

Simply keep repeating these steps to add more bullet points and blocks.

A multimedia list created using the Super List Block plugin

When you’re happy with how the list looks, you can either click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to make it live on your WordPress blog or website.

Method 3. Using a Page Builder Plugin (Best for Landing Pages)

If you want to create beautiful lists with custom styling, then you may want to use SeedProd.

This advanced drag & drop page builder plugin lets you create professionally-designed pages using a simple drag and drop editor. It also comes with a ready-made List block that lets you fine-tune every part of the list design, including changing the space in between individual items, replacing the standard bullet points with custom icons, and more.

SeedProd makes it easy to design standalone pages that have a unique design, so this is also a great choice if you want to add lists to a custom home page or landing page.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate SeedProd. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to enter your license key.

Adding a license key to SeedProd

You can find this information under your account on the SeedProd website. After adding the license key, simply click on ‘Verify Key.’

After that, go to SeedProd » Landing Pages and click on ‘Add New Landing Page.’

Creating a custom landing page using a drag and drop page builder

On the next screen, you’ll be asked to choose a template.

SeedProd comes with over 180 beautiful templates that are organized into different categories such as 404-page templates and custom WooCommerce ‘thank you’ pages.

Simply click on any tab to see the different templates within that category.

SeedProd's professionally-designed templates

When you find a template you want to use, simply hover your mouse over it and then click the checkmark icon.

We’re using the ‘Explosive Growth Webinar’ template in all our images, but you can use any design you want.

Choosing a template using SeedProd

Next, you need to give the page a title.

SeedProd will automatically create a URL based on the page title, but you can change this to anything you want. For example, adding relevant keywords to a URL often improves your WordPress SEO and helps the page appear in relevant search results.

To learn more, please see our guide on how to do keyword research for your WordPress blog.

Naming a template using the SeedProd page builder

When you’re happy with the title and URL, click on ‘Save and Start Editing the Page.’

This will load the SeedProd drag-and-drop page editor. On the right, you’ll see a live preview of the page design, with some settings on the left.

The SeedProd page builder plugin for WordPress

SeedProd comes with lots of blocks that you can add to your design, including blocks that allow you to add social share buttons, videos, contact forms, and more. For more information, please see our guide on how to create a custom page in WordPress.

To add a list to your design, find the ‘List’ block and drag it onto the page.

Adding the SeedProd list block to a page template

This adds a vertical list to your page with a placeholder ‘Item 1.’

If you want to create a horizontal list instead, then click on the ‘Advanced’ tab and then select the ‘Horizontal’ button.

Switching between horizontal and vertical list layouts

You’re now ready to start building your list by selecting the ‘Content’ tab.

To replace the default text with your own messaging, click on ‘Item 1’ in the left-hand menu.

Adding items to a list using a page builder plugin

You can now type your list item into the small text editor that appears.

Here, you can also apply any formatting you want to use, such as bold or italic.

Adding items to a list using SeedProd

By default, SeedProd uses a checkmark for each bullet point, but it has a built-in library of icon fonts, which includes 1400 Font Awesome icons that you can use instead.

To replace the checkmark, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on ‘Icon Library’ when it appears.

Adding custom icons to a list

This opens a popup where you can choose the icon you want to use instead.

You can use different icons for individual bullet points within the list, so this is a great way to create more interesting and eye-catching lists.

Adding Font Awesome icons to a list

To create more bullet points, simply click on the ‘Add New Item’ button.

You can now add text and change the default icon by following the exact same process described above.

Adding new items to a list using a page builder plugin

After adding all the items to your list, you can change the font size and alignment using the settings in the left-hand menu.

You can also increase or decrease the space between the individual list items using the ‘Space Between’ slider.

Changing the spacing inbetween list items

After that, you may want to change the color of the icons in the list. Even if you’re using different icons, SeedProd will apply the same color to every item so the design will always look consistent.

To make this change, click on the ‘Icon Color’ area and then choose a new color from the popup that appears.

Changing the color of bullet points in a list

With that done, you may want to click on ‘Advanced’ and look at some additional settings. We’ve already seen how you can switch between vertical and horizontal list layouts, but you can also change the text color and font.

To really make your list stand out, you can add a box shadow or CSS animation.

SeedProd's advanced customization settings

Most of the settings in the ‘Advanced’ tab are fairly self-explanatory so it’s worth looking through them to see what different kinds of effects you can create.

That done, you can continue working on your page design by adding more blocks and then customizing them using the settings in the left-hand menu.

When you’re happy with how the page looks, click the dropdown menu on the ‘Save’ button and select ‘Publish.’

Publishing a custom landing page using SeedProd

You can now visit this page to see the list live on your online store or website.

Method 4. Add Bullet Points and Number Lists Using Code (Advanced)

You can also create lists using the built-in WordPress code editor and HTML.

This is more complicated so it isn’t the best method for beginners. However, it does allow you to use more styles and formatting in the built-in List block. For example, you can quickly and easily add heading styles to list items, using tags like h1 and h2.

For more on this topic, see our guide on how to edit HTML in the WordPress code editor.

To get started, open the page or post where you want to show the list. Then, click on the three-dotted icon in the upper-right corner and select ‘Code editor.’

Opening the WordPress code editor

The next steps will vary depending on whether you want to add a bullet point list, or a numbered list.

How to Create a Bullet Point List Using Code

To create a bullet point list, start by typing in the following:

<!-- wp:list -->
<ul>

The ul stands for ‘unordered list,’ which means the list doesn’t have any numbers, and the wp:list tells WordPress that you’re creating a List block manually.

Next, press the ‘Return’ key to move onto a new line and create your first list item:

<!-- wp:list -->
<ul>
<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Red</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

Here, li stands for ‘list item,’ and we’re closing the line with /li.

You can repeat this process to create more list items. For example:

<!-- wp:list -->
<ul>
<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Red</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Orange</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Green</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

When you’ve finished, close the code block with another ‘unordered list’ flag:

</ul>
<!-- /wp:list -->

This gives us the following list code:

<!-- wp:list -->
<ul>
<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Red</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Orange</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Green</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->
</ul>
<!-- /wp:list -->

As you can see in the following image, this creates a very simple list, but you can customize it by adding other HTML such as heading tags.

A simple list, created using code

How to Create a Numbered List Using Code

To create a numbered list, simply type in the following:

<!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} -->

You can then type in ol which stands for ordered list:

<!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} -->
<ol>

After that, add each list item by following the same process described above:

<!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} -->
<ol>
<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Red</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

Finally, close the ordered list using an /ol tag and wp:list.

<!-- wp:list {"ordered":true} -->
<ol>
<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Red</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Orange</li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->

<!-- wp:list-item -->
<li>Green </li>
<!-- /wp:list-item -->
</ol>
<!-- /wp:list -->

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add bullet points and numbered lists in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to make money online blogging, or check out our expert pick of the best WordPress contact form plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Easily Add Bullet Points & Numbered Lists in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Customize the Background Color of WordPress Block Editor

Do you want to change the background color of the WordPress block editor for admins?

Sometimes when working on a custom client project, you may want to change the Gutenberg editor background color in WordPress to match their brand colors.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily customize the background color of the WordPress block editor for admin area.

Changing the background color of WordPress block editor

Note: This guide covers changing the editor color in WordPress admin. If you’re looking to change the background color in WordPress front-end, then please see our tutorial on how to change background color in WordPress.

Why Change the Background Color of the Block Editor in WordPress?

You may want to change the background color of the WordPress block editor for a number of reasons.

For instance, most modern WordPress themes use the same background color for the block editor as the live website including Astra, OceanWP, GeneratePress, and more.

However, if your WordPress theme doesn’t use the same colors, then the appearance of your post inside the editor will look quite different from what your users will see on the live website.

Another reason for changing the background color could be personal preference.

For instance, by default, the block editor uses a plain white background. Some users may find it a bit stressful to look at the white screen for long hours. Eye strain can be a real issue for many people, and the default white background is not easy on the eyes.

Default block editor

That being said, let’s see how you can easily change the WordPress editor background color.

How to Change the WordPress Editor Background Color

You can easily change the WordPress editor background color by adding custom code to your theme’s functions.php file.

However, keep in mind that even the smallest error in the code can break your website and make it inaccessible. That’s why we recommend using the WPCode plugin. It’s the best WordPress code snippets plugin on the market and is the easiest and safest way to add custom code to your WordPress website.

First, you need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more instructions, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Code Snippets » + Add Snippets page from the admin sidebar.

From here, you have to click on the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.

Add new snippet

This will take you to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page where you can start by typing a name for your code snippet. This is just for you and can be anything that will help you identify the code.

Next, you need to choose ‘PHP Snippet’ as the ‘Code Type’ from the dropdown menu on the right.

Choose PHP Snippet option as the code type for changing editor background color

After that, you need to copy and paste the following code into the ‘Code Preview’ box.

add_action( 'admin_footer', function() {
	?>
	<style>
		.editor-styles-wrapper {
			background-color: #bee0ec;
		}
	</style>
	<?php
});

Next, you need to look for the following code in the PHP snippet you just pasted.

background-color: #bee0ec;

Then, you have to add the hex code of your preferred color next to the background color option. If you don’t want to use a hex code, you can use some basic color names such as ‘white’ or ‘blue’ instead.

Paste the code snippet for changing the editor background color

After that, you need to scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and choose the ‘Auto Insert’ option.

Next, you need to select the ‘Location’ of the code snippet as ‘Admin Only’ from the dropdown menu.

Choose the insertion method and location of the code snippet

After that, you need to scroll back to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active.’

Finally, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Snippet’ button to save your changes.

Save the code snippet for changing the background color

Now, go visit the block editor from the admin sidebar.

This is how the block editor looked on our site after adding the CSS code snippet.

Editor color preview

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily change the WordPress editor background color. You may also want to see our ultimate guide on 85+ time saving WordPress shortcuts, or take a look at our top picks for the best WordPress page builder plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Customize the Background Color of WordPress Block Editor first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add WhatsApp Chatbox and Share Buttons in WordPress

Do you want to add WhatsApp chatbox and share buttons in WordPress?

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging platforms and has about 2.2 billion users worldwide. Adding a Whatsapp share button will allow you to connect with the customers and build user engagement, and adding a chatbox button will let users message you directly through your website.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add a WhatsApp share button in WordPress.

How to add WhatsApp share button in WordPress

Why Add a WhatsApp Button in WordPress?

WhatsApp is an instant messaging app that allows people worldwide to easily contact each other.

Adding a WhatsApp share button to your WordPress website will allow visitors to easily share your content with their contacts.

Moreover, you can also add a WhatsApp chatbox enabling users to have a direct conversation with you.

For instance, if you have an online store, then a WhatsApp chat button can be used by customers to make product queries without having to fill out any forms or go through customer support.

It can result in increased user engagement and lower cart abandonment rates.

Having said that, let’s see how you can easily add a WhatsApp share button in WordPress.

Method 1: Add a WhatsApp Share button in WordPress

If you want to add a WhatsApp share button to your website, then this method is for you.

First, you need to install and activate the Sassy Social Share plugin. For more instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Sassy Social Share menu from the admin sidebar.

From here, you need to switch to the ‘Standard Interface’ tab at the top.

Then, you need to scroll down to the ‘Select Sharing Services’ section and simply check the box next to the WhatsApp option.

Check WhatsApp share option

You can also add the Share button for other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and more.

Once, you’re done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings, and then you can head to the ‘Theme Selection’ tab.

From here, you can customize the share buttons by changing their size, shape, logo or background color, and more. It’s a good idea to go with the WhatsApp brand colors for the share button so that users will recognize it more easily.

Customize the WhatsApp share button

Once you are finished, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

You can now visit your website to see your WhatsApp share button in action.

Here is how it looked on our demo website.

WhatsApp Share button

Don’t want to add WhatsApp button to every page? Don’t worry, the plugin also allows you to easily add it to single posts and pages as well.

Adding WhatsApp Share Button in Block Editor

If you only want to show the WhatsApp share button on specific posts and pages, then first you need to turn off the global display of sharing buttons.

To do that, simply go to the Sassy Social Share page in the WordPress admin sidebar and switch to the ‘Standard Interface’ tab.

Next, you need to uncheck the box for the ‘Enable Standard sharing interface’ option.

Disable standard buttons

Next, switch to the ‘Floating Interface’ tab.

From here, uncheck the box next to the ‘Enable Floating sharing interface’ option.

Disable floating buttons

Now that you have disabled the standard and floating social sharing buttons, you go ahead and WhatsApp share button to any page or post on your website using a shortcode.

Simply open the post or page where you want to display the WhatsApp share button in the content editor, or you can just create a new one.

From here, simply click on the Add Block (+) button at the top left corner and search for the ‘Shortcode’ block. After that, simply add the block to the page.

Add shortcode in the block editor

Next, you need to copy the following shortcode and paste it into the ‘Shortcode’ block.

[Sassy_Social_Share]

Once you’re done, simply click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to store your changes. Your WhatsApp Share button will look like this.

WhatsApp share button on a page

Adding WhatsApp Share Button as a Widget

To add the WhatsApp share button to the sidebar of your website, you need to visit the Appearance » Widgets page from the admin sidebar.

From here, simply click on the Add Block (+) button at the top left corner and locate the ‘Shortcode’ block.

Next, you need to add the ‘Shortcode’ block to the sidebar.

WhatsApp share button as a widget

After that, simply copy and paste the following shortcode into the block.

[Sassy_Social_Share]

Next, click on the ‘Update’ button to store your settings.

This is how your WhatsApp share button will look once it’s added to the website sidebar.

WhatsApp share button in the sidebar

Adding the WhatsApp Share Button in the Full Site Editor

If you’re using a block theme, then you’ll be using the full site editor and won’t have access to the ‘Widgets’ page.

First, you need to visit the Appearance » Editor option from the admin sidebar to launch the full site editor.

Next, you need to click on the ‘Add Block’ (+) button at the top of the screen and add the ‘Shortcode’ block to any suitable place on your website.

After that, add the following shortcode to the block.

[Sassy_Social_Share]
Add WhatsApp share button in Full site editor

Once, you’re done, click on the ‘Save’ button at the top.

This is how the WhatsApp share button looked on our demo website.

WhatsApp share button preview in FSE

Method 2: Add a WhatsApp Chatbox Button in WordPress

This method allows you to add a WhatsApp chatbox button in WordPress.

This means that when a user clicks on the WhatsApp chat button, they’ll be able to send you a direct message on your WhatsApp phone number.

Note: You won’t be getting any messages directly inside your WordPress dashboard, but you will be able to chat like normal in the WhatsApp mobile app, web interface, and desktop software.

First, you need to install and activate the Click to Chat plugin. For more instructions, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to head over to the Click to Chat menu item that has been added to your WordPress admin dashboard’s sidebar.

From here, you need to start by typing your business phone number in the ‘WhatsApp Number’ field.

This will be the phone number where you’ll receive messages from users.

After that, you need to type a simple message in the ‘Pre-Filled Message’ field. This will be the default message that will be displayed in your WhatsApp chat window.

Provide your WhatsApp phone number

Next, you need to scroll down to the ‘Style, Position’ section.

You can start by choosing a style for your WhatsApp chatbox from the dropdown menu. By default, this plugin offers about 8 different styles. Simply choose the one that you prefer.

Select a style for the WhatsApp chat box

After that, you need to scroll down to the ‘Position to Place’ section.

From here, you can choose the position and size of your chatbox from the dropdown menus.

Select the position of your chatbox

Next, you need to go to the ‘Display Settings’ section.

Here, you just need to check the ‘Global’ box next to the options where you want to display your WhatsApp chatbox.

For instance, if you want to display the chatbox on your posts, pages, and categories pages, you need to check the ‘Global’ option.

You can also choose the ‘Hide’ option if you don’t want to display the WhatsApp chatbox on a certain page.

Check the Global box

Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Now, you need to head over to the Click to Chat » Greetings page to select a Greeting dialog from a dropdown menu.

This greeting dialog will be shown along with the WhatsApp button on your page.

Choose a Greeting dialog from the dropdown menu

Once you’ve made your choice, you will need to type the content for the header, main content, and call to action of your greeting dialog.

After that, scroll down to the ‘Customizable Design’ section.

Type content for the greeting dialog

Once here, you can choose the background colors of your main content, header, and message box.

After that, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings

Choose background color for the greeting dialog

Next, you need to visit your website.

By default, this is how your WhatsApp chatbox will look like.

WhatsApp chatbox on a website

Now, we will show you how you can easily add the WhatsApp chat button in the block editor, as a widget, and in the full site editor.

Add the WhatsApp Chat Button in the Block Editor

You can easily add the WhatsApp button to a specific page or post on your WordPress website using the block editor.

For this tutorial, we will be adding the WhatsApp button to a page.

First, you need to go to the Pages » Add New page from the admin sidebar.

This will launch the block editor.

Now, you need to click the ‘Add Block’ (+) button at the top left corner of the screen and click on the ‘Shortcode’ block.

Add shortcode in the block editor

Once the ‘Shortcode’ block is added, you need to copy and paste the following shortcode into the block.

[ht-ctc-chat]

After that, simply click the ‘Publish’ button at the top.

This is how the WhatsApp button looked on our demo website.

WhatsApp button on a page

Adding the WhatsApp Chat Button as a Widget

In this method, we will show you how to easily add the WhatsApp button as a widget in the sidebar of your website.

First, you need to head over to the Appearance » Widgets page from the WordPress sidebar.

Once there, simply click on the ‘Sidebar’ tab to expand it and then click the ‘Add Block’ (+) button at the top.

Next, simply locate and add the ‘Shortcode’ block to the sidebar.

Add the shortcode block in the sidebar

Now, simply copy and paste the following shortcode into the block.

[ht-ctc-chat]

Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button to store your settings.

This is how the WhatsApp button looked after being added to the sidebar on our demo website.

WhatsApp button in sidebar

Adding the WhatsApp Chat Button in Full Site Editor

If you’re using a block-based theme with a full site editor, then this method is for you.

First, head over to the Appearance » Editor page to launch the full site editor.

Once there, simply click the ‘Add Block’ (+) button at the top left corner of the screen.

Now, simply locate and add the ‘Shortcode’ block to your preferred place on the site.

Add the shortcode block in the FSE

Once the block is added, simply copy and paste the following shortcode into the block.

[ht-ctc-chat]

In the end, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button at the top to save your changes.

This is how the WhatsApp button looked on our site.

WhatsApp button in FSE

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a WhatsApp share button in WordPress. You may also want to see our top picks of the best social media monitoring tools for WordPress users, and our beginner’s guide on how to build an email list.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add WhatsApp Chatbox and Share Buttons in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

WordPress Widgets vs Blocks – What’s the Difference? (Explained)

Are you trying to understand the difference between WordPress widgets vs blocks?

WordPress widgets and blocks are both used to add dynamic content elements to posts, pages, sidebars, and templates. Widgets have been a core part of WordPress for 16 years, while blocks have only been a part of the platform since 2018. They serve similar functions, but they aren’t the same.

In this article, we’ll explain the difference between WordPress widgets and blocks, so you can learn how to use them properly.

Understanding the difference between WordPress widgets and blocks

Here is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover in this article.

What are WordPress Widgets?

WordPress widgets are dynamic-content elements that you can add to widget-ready areas like sidebars.

Widgets were introduced in WordPress 2.2 (May 2007). The purpose was to provide users with an easy way to add customizable elements to their website without having to repeatedly insert the same element at the end of blog posts, for instance, or edit their WordPress theme files to create a sidebar and manually code in something like Google AdSense tracking codes.

Users could simply insert content or features using widgets that didn’t have to be part of their overall theme files or blog posts.

Widgets made it much easier for users to create their ideal WordPress blog, letting them easily add banner ads or email sign-up forms.

Gradually, almost all WordPress themes adapted widgets by adding widget-ready areas in their design and layouts. These were most often sidebars and footers.

The WordPress widget editor looked like this until WordPress 5.8 was released in 2021.

Old widgets screen

What are Blocks in WordPress?

Blocks are the elements that users can add to an area using the WordPress content editor. WordPress switched to this block-based content editor in WordPress 5.0.

You may also see it referred to as the Gutenberg editor, which was its development codename.

Blocks are very similar to widgets because each one handles a single element of the page or post. Unlike widgets, however, blocks were introduced only as part of the post and page editor, which means they could not be easily added to areas like the site footer or sidebar.

A block can be inserted into a post or page for any element, including a paragraph, an image, a gallery, a plugin-specific feature like email signups, or a video embed.

Block editor in WordPress

There are also blocks to add design layout elements like covers, patterns, tables, columns, groups, and more.

To learn more, see our complete WordPress block editor tutorial which shows how to use the default editor to create beautiful content layouts.

The Difference Between Widgets vs Blocks in WordPress

Until WordPress 5.8, the difference between widgets and blocks was quite obvious.

Users added widgets to their theme’s widget-ready areas. They were primarily used to display elements that were not post/page content. For instance, recent posts lists, important links, banner ads, forms, and more.

However, the difference between widgets and blocks has become quite blurry now.

Widgets are self-contained elements that can be used in widget-ready areas like sidebars on a WordPress website.

Blocks are also self-contained elements that you can access through the block editor. They can be used in posts and pages, as well as widget-ready areas. You can also use them in templates if your theme has enabled the full site editor.

Widgets were the first to allow developers to output other elements like contact forms, testimonials, social media feeds, and more.

However, the same can be achieved using blocks. Many of the top WordPress plugins now come with blocks that you can add anywhere.

Plugin blocks

For instance, WPForms comes with a contact form block that you can add anywhere to display a form.

Similarly, All in One SEO comes with blocks for the table of contents, HTML sitemap, breadcrumb navigation, and more.

The Block-Based Widget Editor

WordPress planned to adapt the block editor for editing all areas of your website including the widget-ready areas.

To make this happen, the new block-based widget editor was introduced in WordPress 5.8.

Users were now able to use blocks in widget-ready areas of their themes.

Block widget editor

Widgets are still located under the Appearance » Widgets menu.

However, if you are using a block-based theme that doesn’t have any defined widget-ready areas, then you may not see it under there. You will see Appearance » Editor instead.

Site editor with no widgets screen

Many of the legacy WordPress widgets already have blocks that can do the same thing.

Click on the add new block button (+) and you will find a bunch of blocks categorized as Widgets.

Widget blocks

These are still blocks, but they are just categorized as widgets so that users can understand that these blocks behave like legacy widgets.

However, if a user still needed to use a legacy widget that doesn’t have an alternative block, then they can do so by using the Legacy Widgets block.

Legacy widget block

If a WordPress plugin has a block that you can add to the posts and pages, you can now also use the same block in widget-ready areas.

Theme developers can also create custom blocks that users can add to different areas of their websites.

The Future of WordPress Widgets

WordPress is moving forward towards using a more intuitive and unified way to edit the content on a WordPress website.

This means that older widgets will no longer be available going forward. WordPress themes and plugin developers are already adapting and adding support for the block editor in their products.

However, many WordPress themes still use older widgets. Similarly, many WordPress plugins still use shortcodes and legacy widgets.

If you still need to use the old widgets, then you can disable block widgets in WordPress.

The simple way would be to do it by using the free WPCode plugin which allows you to customize WordPress without adding dozens of plugins.

It has a pre-made snippets that you can use to disable block widgets.

Select the Disable Widget Blocks snippet from the WPCode library

Alternatively, you can also use Classic Widgets plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will simply replace the block-based widget editor with the older widget page.

Note: Classic Widgets plugin will only be supported until 2024. After then, the plugin will not be updated or maintained this is why we recommend using WPCode to future-proof your customization.

Blocks vs Widgets – Which One is Better?

We recommend users start using the new block-based widgets editor as soon as possible because that’s the direction WordPress development is heading.

It is easy to use, modern, and more flexible than the previous Widgets screen.

If a WordPress plugin or theme on your website doesn’t support block-based widgets, then you can reach out to the developer and ask them to convert their widgets into blocks.

If they don’t have plans to release an update, then you can easily find alternative plugins or themes to replace them.

We hope this article helped you understand the difference between WordPress widgets vs blocks. You may also want to see our pick of the best block plugins for WordPress or see our guide on the difference between the block editor vs page builders.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post WordPress Widgets vs Blocks – What’s the Difference? (Explained) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add Magnifying Zoom for Images in WordPress

Do you want to add an Amazon-like magnifying zoom for images in WordPress?

Adding a zoom feature will allow users to see details that they would not see in a normal-sized image.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add magnifying zoom for images in WordPress.

How to add magnifying zoom for images in WordPress

Why Add a Magnifying Zoom for Images?

Adding a magnifying zoom feature on your WordPress website will allow visitors to view the intricate details of the images clearly.

If you have a photography website, then adding a magnifying feature will allow users to zoom in on your photographs to view the finer details.

Similarly, if you run an online store, then your customers will be able to zoom in on product images.

Many big eCommerce websites already use magnifying zoom for product images. It allows customers to examine the product and creates a better shopping experience in your store.

That being said, let’s see how you can easily add a magnifying zoom for images in WordPress.

How to Add a Magnifying Zoom For Images in WordPress

First, you need to install and activate the WP Image Zoom plugin. For more details, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to head over to the WP Image Zoom » Zoom Settings page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

Next, you need to configure the zoom effect settings by switching to the ‘Zoom Settings’ tab and choose a lens shape that you want to use.

Choose a lens shape

You can choose from circle, square, and zoom window lens shapes. You can even choose a ‘No Lens’ (⨯) option if you don’t want to use a shape for magnifying effect.

After choosing your preferred lens, you need to scroll down to the next step where you can preview an image with the selected lens to see how it works. The plugin has a preview image that you can use to test your changes.

Check the preview of the lens in step two

Next, you need to switch to the ‘General’ tab.

From here, you can select a cursor type, set an animation effect, enable the zoom on mouse hover or mouse click, and define a zoom level.

If you want even more options, some of the features are only available for the pro version of the WP Image Zoom plugin.

Configure General tab settings in step 3

After making your choices accordingly, simply go to the ‘Lens’ tab from the top.

You can now configure settings like lens size, lens color, lens border options, and more if you selected the ‘circle’ or ‘square’ lens in Step 1.

Lens Settings

If you selected the Zoom Window Lens, then you need to switch to the ‘Zoom Window’ configuration tab.

From here, you can change the width and height of the zoom window, positioning, distance from the main image, border colors, and more.

Zoom window settings

Next, you need to simply click the ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.

After that, all you have to do is configure a few general settings.

Clcik the Save Changes for the last step

Configure General Plugin Settings

Next, you need to switch to the General Settings tab under the plugin settings.

From here, you can now enable features like zoom on WooCommerce product images, thumbnails, mobile devices, attachment pages, product category pages, and more.

All you need to do is simply check the boxes next to these options.

Go to the General Settings tab and check the boxes beside the options you want to activate

You can also remove the lightbox effect, so users can smoothly zoom images.

However, you would need the Pro version of the plugin for this feature.

Remove the lightbox option by checking the box

If you are not going to remove the lightbox for images, then you need to scroll down to the ‘Enable inside a Lightbox’ option and check the box next to it.

Note: You can see supported lightboxes to make sure that the zoom works fine inside a lightbox on your site.

Check enable inside lightbox option

Once you are done adjusting the settings, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Magnifying zoom will now be enabled for WooCommerce products.

You can go visit your online store to check our zoom feature.

Zoom feature enabled on the WooCommerce store

However, if you want to enable zoom for images on WordPress posts and pages, you need to follow the step below.

Step 3. Enable Magnifying Zoom for Images in Block Editor

By default, the magnifying zoom is not enabled for images on your posts and pages. You need to do it manually after adding an image to your content.

First, you need to open a post you want to edit in the block editor.

Next, you need to upload an image to that post from the media library or your computer.

Once you do that, simply click on the image to open up its’ Block Settings panel on the right corner of the screen.

From here, simply go to the ‘Styles’ tab and click on the ‘With Zoom’ button to apply magnifying zoom to your image.

Click on the Zoom button

After that, simply click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top to store your settings.

The zoom feature will look like this on your site:

Zoom feature preview

Note: You will need to repeat this step each time you want to add the zoom effect to an individual image.

We recommend using high-quality images for the zoom feature to look great. High-quality images are normally larger in file size and take longer to load which will affect your website speed and performance.

To solve this issue, you need to optimize your images for the web before uploading them to WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add magnifying zoom for images in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to optimize images for search engines and our top picks for the best image compression plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add Magnifying Zoom for Images in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

Saving Settings for a Custom WordPress Block in the Block Editor

We’ve accomplished a bunch of stuff in this series! We created a custom WordPress block that fetches data from an external API and renders it on the front end. Then we took that work and extended it so the data also renders directly in the WordPress block editor. After that, we created a settings UI for the block using components from the WordPress InspectorControls package.

There’s one last bit for us to cover and that’s saving the settings options. If we recall from the last article, we’re technically able to “save” our selections in the block settings UI, but those aren’t actually stored anywhere. If we make a few selections, save them, then return to the post, the settings are completely reset.

Let’s close the loop and save those settings so they persist the next time we edit a post that contains our custom block!

Working With External APIs in WordPress Blocks

Saving settings attributes

We’re working with an API that provides us with soccer football team ranking and we’re using it to fetch for displaying rankings based on country, league, and season. We can create new attributes for each of those like this:

// index.js

attributes: {
  data: {
    type: "object",
  },
  settings: {
    type: "object",
    default: {
      country: {
        type: "string",
      },
      league: {
        type: "string",
      },
      season: {
        type: "string",
      },
    },
  },
},

Next, we need to set the attributes from LeagueSettings.js. Whenever a ComboboxControl is updated in our settings UI, we need to set the attributes using the setAttributes() method. This was more straightfoward when we were only working with one data endpoint. But now that we have multiple inputs, it’s a little more involved.

This is how I am going to organize it. I am going to create a new object in LeagueSettings.js that follows the structure of the settings attributes and their values.

// LeagueSettings.js

let localSettings = {
  country: attributes.settings.country,
  league: attributes.settings.league,
  season: attributes.settings.season,
};

I am also going to change the initial state variables from null to the respective settings variables.

// LeagueSettings.js

const [country, setCountry] = useState(attributes.settings.country);
const [league, setLeague] = useState(attributes.settings.league);
const [season, setSeason] = useState(attributes.settings.season);

In each of the handle______Change(), I am going to create a setLocalAttributes() that has an argument that clones and overwrites the previous localSettings object with the new country, league, and season values. This is done using the help of the spread operator.

// LeagueSettings.js

function handleCountryChange(value) {
  // Initial code
  setLocalAttributes({ ...localSettings, country: value });
  // Rest of the code
}

function handleLeagueChange(value) {
  // Initial code
  setLocalAttributes({ ...localSettings, league: value });
  // Rest of the code
}

function handleSeasonChange(value) {
  // Initial code
  setLocalAttributes({ ...localSettings, season: value });
  // Rest of the code
}

We can define the setLocalAttributes() like this:

// LeagueSettings.js

function setLocalAttributes(value) {
  let newSettings = Object.assign(localSettings, value);
  localSettings = { ...newSettings };
  setAttributes({ settings: localSettings });
}

So, we’re using Object.assign() to merge the two objects. Then we can clone the newSettings object back to localSettings because we also need to account for each settings attribute when there a new selection is made and a change occurs.

Finally, we can use the setAttributes() as we do normally to set the final object. You can confirm if the above attributes are changing by updating the selections in the UI.

Another way to confirm is to do a console.log() in DevTools to find the attributes.

The block added to a post in the block editor with DevTools open showing the saved attributes.

Look closer at that screenshot. The values are stored in attributes.settings. We are able to see it happen live because React re-renders every time we make a change in the settings, thanks to the useState() hook.

Displaying the values in the blocks settings UI

It isn’t very useful to store the setting values in the control options themselves since each one is dependent on the other setting value (e.g. rankings by league depends on which season is selected). But it is very useful in situations where the settings values are static and where settings are independent of each other.

Without making the current settings complicated, we can create another section inside the settings panel that shows the current attributes. You can choose your way to display the settings values but I am going to import a Tip component from the @wordpress/components package:

// LeagueSettings.js
import { Tip } from "@wordpress/components";

While I’m here, I am going to do a conditional check for the values before displaying them inside the Tip component:

<Tip>
  {country && league && season && (
    <>
      <h2>Current Settings: </h2>
      <div className="current-settings">
        <div className="country">
          Country: {attributes.settings.country}
        </div>
        <div className="league">
          League: {attributes.settings.league}
        </div>
        <div className="season">
          Season: {attributes.settings.season}
        </div>
      </div>
    </>
  )}
</Tip>

Here’s how that winds up working in the block editor:

API data is more powerful when live data can be shown without having to manually update them each and every time. We will look into that in the next installment of this series.


Saving Settings for a Custom WordPress Block in the Block Editor originally published on CSS-Tricks, which is part of the DigitalOcean family. You should get the newsletter.

How to Add Simple and Elegant Footnotes in Your WordPress Blog Posts

Do you want to add footnotes to your WordPress blog posts?

If you are writing an article that references research or contains a lot of complex information, then you may want to use footnotes in your content. These are little numbered marks in a text that provide additional context to a sentence or paragraph.

In this article, we will show you how to add simple and elegant footnotes to your WordPress blog posts, step by step.

Add footnotes in WordPress blog posts

Why Add Footnotes to Your WordPress Blog Posts?

If you run an educational blog, publish research, or cover news stories, then footnotes are a great way to give more context to your content. You can use them to add comments, highlight important facts, or insert citations to academic sources on your website.

A footnote typically appears as a small, superscript number within the main body of your text. The actual footnote content is then placed at the bottom of the page or appears as a tooltip to distinguish it from the main content.

Here is an example:

Example of a footnote in McKinsey's website

Besides providing clarity and transparency for your readers, footnotes can make your WordPress website look more professional and trustworthy. They show that you have done your research and have the sources to support your claims.

The WordPress.org editor now has a built-in footnote feature that you can easily use to insert additional context.

This guide will show you how to add WordPress footnotes to your blog posts or pages using two methods. One is with using the Footnotes block in the Gutenberg editor, and the other is with a plugin.

You can use the links below to jump to a specific method:

Method 1: Add WordPress Footnotes With the Gutenberg Editor

This method is best for people who want to use simple footnotes and don’t want to install a plugin for this purpose.

To use the WordPress Footnotes block, you will need to open the Gutenberg block editor for a new or existing post or page.

After that, just highlight a word in your content that you want to add the footnote to. In the block toolbar, click the dropdown arrow and select ‘Footnote.’

Adding a footnote to a text in the WordPress block editor

You will now be redirected to the bottom of the page, where the Footnotes block has been added automatically. Here, you can type in your extra information.

Additionally, you can customize the block’s color, typography, dimensions, and border using the settings in the right-hand panel.

Customizing the footnotes block in the WordPress block editor

Feel free to repeat this step to include as many footnotes as needed.

When you preview your WordPress site, there should be a footnote link to the sentence you highlighted earlier.

Example of the footnote made in WordPress

If you click on the hyperlink, it will bring you to the bottom of the page with the footnote.

Here, you can also click the hyperlinked arrow to go back to the section where the footnote is assigned.

An example of the footnote content at the bottom of the page, made using WordPress

While this method is fairly simple for beginners, it doesn’t offer tons of customization options. If you are looking for more ways to change the footnote appearance, then just continue to the next method.

Method 2: Add WordPress Footnotes With a Plugin

Another method of creating footnotes is to use the free Modern Footnotes plugin. Unlike the Footnotes block, it offers a lot more options to modify the footnote appearance.

For example, you can make the footnote appear as a tooltip, as well as extra information at the bottom of the page.

The first thing you will do is install the Modern Footnotes plugin. For more information about plugin installation, check out our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Configuring the Modern Footnotes Plugin Settings

With the plugin installed, you can now go to Settings » Modern Footnotes. This is where you can configure the footnote settings to your preferences.

Let’s go through each setting one by one.

‘Desktop footnote behavior’ lets you select how the footnote should behave when the website is being viewed on a desktop computer.

You can make the footnote appear when a cursor hovers over the tooltip or when the user clicks on the tooltip. Alternatively, the footnote can expand below the footnoted text.

Selecting a Desktop footnote behavior using the Modern Footnotes plugin

Which one you choose is up to your preferences. That said, the footnote will expand below the text by default on mobile screens.

Besides that, you can also check the ‘Make footnote content appear in web browser’s native tooltip when hovering over footnote number’ box if needed. This means the footnote will appear in the browser’s tooltip rather than in the plugin’s when the cursor hovers over the text.

We recommend switching this setting off if you choose the tooltip option for the desktop footnote behavior. Otherwise, you will have two tooltips for the same footnote, which readers may find annoying.

Below, you can also choose to display the footnote list at the bottom of the posts. This way, the reader can see all of the additional information in one place.

You may also want to enable this feature when the blog post is syndicated through RSS feeds.

Modern Footnote plugin's footnote display settings

Scrolling down, you can opt to insert a heading for your footnote list and choose a heading tag for it. This helps separate the actual content of your blog post from the footnotes. You can write something like References, Footnotes, Citations, or Additional Information.

If you want to add some custom CSS to modify the footnote text, feel free to insert it in the ‘Modern Footnote Custom CSS’ box.

Last but not least, you can customize the Modern Footnotes shortcode if you don’t want to use the built-in version. Make sure to enter the shortcode without the brackets.

Once you are happy with the settings, just click ‘Save Changes.’

Saving changes in the Modern Footnotes plugin

Adding Footnotes Using the Modern Footnotes Plugin

Now that you’ve configured the Modern Footnotes settings, let’s insert some footnotes into your content. Go ahead and open the block editor for a new or existing post or page.

There are two ways to add a footnote. One is with a shortcode, which is what we recommend.

First, find the sentence you want to insert a footnote. Then, right next to that sentence, type in the following shortcode:

[mfn]Insert your footnote here[/mfn]

Make sure to replace the text between the brackets with your information.

We also suggest putting the shortcode within the same block as the sentence, right next to the text, without any space in between, just like in the example below. Otherwise, the footnote may look disconnected from the text.

An example of how to add a footnote shortcode using the Modern Footnotes plugin

The other method is to type your footnote text next to the sentence you want to add the footnote to. Make sure there’s no space between the footnote text and the sentence.

In the example below, we want to add a footnote containing an academic citation for the sentence that begins with ‘Studies suggest…’

Next, highlight the footnote and click the down-arrow button in the toolbar. After that, select ‘Add a Footnote.’

Clicking the Add a Footnote button from the Modern Footnotes plugin

The drawback with the second method is it can be hard to track which lines of text have been given a footnote and which ones haven’t when you are editing the content. That’s why we recommend the shortcode method.

When you preview the blog post, you will see that there is now a number next to the sentence. If you use the tooltip option, this is what the footnote will look like:

What the Modern Footnotes tooltip looks like

On the other hand, the footnote will appear below the text if you use the expandable formatting.

Here’s what it looks like when you click on the number:

What the expandable footnote formatting looks like using the Modern Footnotes plugin

Finally, if you choose to display all of the footnote content at the bottom of the post, you can scroll down to find everything there.

They should be somewhere above the comment section.

The footnote content at the bottom of the page, made with the Modern Footnotes plugin

Bonus Tip: Use WordPress Custom Fields to Add More Information to Your Content

Besides footnotes, another way to provide extra information in your WordPress posts and pages is by using custom fields.

WordPress custom fields are metadata used to insert additional information into a post or page. For example, if you run a blog with multiple authors, then you may want to display your contributors’ names on the blog post, not just your own.

If you are interested in custom fields, just check out our WordPress custom fields 101 guide.

We will show you how to add custom fields using the block editor and some plugins, including WPCode. This plugin offers a safe and easy way to add code snippets to your WordPress website, even if you are a beginner.

WPCode - Best WordPress Code Snippets Plugin

We hope this article has helped you learn how to add footnotes to your WordPress website. You may also want to take a look at our expert picks for the best WordPress typography plugins and our guide on how to show and hide text in WordPress posts with the toggle effect.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Add Simple and Elegant Footnotes in Your WordPress Blog Posts first appeared on WPBeginner.

WordPress Admin Warnings in the Block Editor

We sent out an email the other week that ultimately had a <video> in the HTML markup. We send the newsletter by creating it here in the WordPress block editor, which is fetched through RSS-to-Mailchimp. Mailchimp dutifully sent it out, but the HTML was such that it totally borked the layout. This lead to some charming totally fair emails like this:

This email looks like trash in thunderbird, just giving a heads up.

You actually can send <video> in HTML email, but our system just isn’t set up for it. It requires some fancy dancing CSS (e.g. hiding it for non-supporting users with a fallback, and detecting support is super tricky, etc.) and HTML (e.g. making sure the width/height attributes are small-screen friendly). We could do it, but I don’t think it’s worth it for the handful of times we would want to do it.

So instead, to prevent us from doing it again, I used (drumroll)…. CSS.

I have some CSS that gets loaded in the admin area only when the block editor is loaded, which is in a functionality plugin:

wp_register_style(
  'css-tricks-code-block-editor-css',
  plugins_url('location/of/styles.css', dirname( __FILE__ )),
  array('wp-edit-blocks'),
  filemtime( plugin_dir_path(__DIR__) . 'location/of/styles.css')
);

I can put anything I want in that CSS file and it will effect styles of the block editor but nothing on the public front end of the site.

I also wanted to scope this CSS only to the newsletters page. Fortunately, WordPress has body classes in the editor as well. We have a Custom Post Type for newsletters, and that expresses itself as a class here:

So I chuck these styles in:

/* Warn about videos in newsletters */
.post-type-newsletters .wp-block-video {
  border: 5px solid red;
}
.post-type-newsletters .wp-block-video::before {
  content: "WARNING: NO VIDEOS IN EMAILS";
  display: block;
  color: red;
}

And boom, I have styles that warn about this problem before it happens again:


The post WordPress Admin Warnings in the Block Editor appeared first on CSS-Tricks. You can support CSS-Tricks by being an MVP Supporter.

Recreating the Classic Wedding WordPress Theme Homepage With the Block Editor

I simply do not understand it. For at least the better part of a decade, theme authors have asked for the tools to create more complex layouts with WordPress. They have asked for the ability to allow end-users to more easily recreate their demos. They have wanted methods to bypass the “restrictive” theme review guidelines.

Over the past couple of years, WordPress has consistently delivered features that theme authors have asked for. Yet, themes that use them are few and far between.

During my weekly perusal of the latest themes to land in the directory, a new wedding theme caught my attention last week. Of course, I downloaded, installed, and activated it only to find that I had no idea how to recreate the homepage design. There were no instructions. The theme options in the customizer seemed to make little sense. Nearly all of the decorative images were non-existent in the theme folder.

Did I need to upgrade to the pro version to get what was in the screenshot? There seems to be a plan for such a version, but it is not available yet.

Screenshot of the Classic Wedding WordPress theme.
Classic Wedding theme screenshot.

I am no rookie, but I was stuck. I liked the simplicity of the design. However, I could not imagine setting up a wedding site with this theme. From a user’s standpoint, it should not take more than a few mouse clicks. After that point, it should only be a matter of customizing the content.

I recognize that there is still a sort of love/hate divide for the block editor in the inner WordPress community. However, theme authors are not doing any favors for the overall WordPress user base by not taking advantage of the tools available.

So, I recreated the Classic Wedding theme homepage from scratch. Using the block editor. With a theme that supports it.

Creating a Wedding Homepage

My goal was simple. There was no demo to work from, and all I had to go on was an 800-pixel wide screenshot from the theme page on the author’s site. Like I recreated the Music Artist homepage several weeks ago, I wanted to do the same for Classic Wedding. With a couple of exceptions, which could have been handled by the theme, I was successful.

Because Classic Wedding does not support the block editor itself, I could not recreate its homepage via the block editor while using the theme. It was not happening — I tried. I knew that the Eksell WordPress theme had a “canvas” template that allowed users to edit the entire page, so it was an easy choice.

I also loaded the Kaushan Script and Lora fonts to more closely match the original theme. This was unnecessary for the experiment, but I wanted my recreation to at least look somewhat similar.

I immediately knew that I would have one hurdle to overcome. The theme used an image that overlapped both the section above and below it. This requires margin controls, particularly the ability to add negative margins. Unfortunately, this is a missing component of the block editor today. It does not mean that theme authors cannot do it with custom block styles or patterns. It simply means that end-users are unable to control it from the interface.

Because I did not want to spend my time writing the code for this, I leaned on my usual safety net, the Editor Plus plugin. While it can be a little clunky sometimes and feel like overkill, it does include those missing features like margin options.

Using the Editor Plus plugin, adding a negative margin to an image in the WordPress block editor.
Adding negative margin to an image.

I used px units there because it was easy. In a real-world project, % or rem would have been better. But I was just doing a quick proof-of-concept.

Everything else in the content area was straightforward. I needed a Cover block with an Image, Heading, Paragraph, and Button tucked inside. I needed a Group block as a container for Image, Heading, and Paragraphs in the bottom section.

Because the theme did not package its decorative images — again, how would users recreate the homepage without them? — I opted for a simple striped SVG background instead of the flowers in the original. Since I already had Editor Plus installed, I added an SVG from Hero Icons as the main background.

Content area of a wedding homepage design with a hero header, overlapping image, and text.
Wedding page content recreation.

My original idea was to recreate the “content” part of the homepage only. However, it was a bit boring on its own. Therefore, I transformed everything into a Columns block and added the sidebar. I recreated the primary elements using the Image, Heading, Paragraph, and Navigation blocks. Then, I added a Social Icons block for fun.

Full wedding page design with sidebar and wedding photos/content on the right.
Full wedding homepage design.

I did hit one snag with the Navigation block. WordPress does not currently offer a method of centering each link in the list when using the vertical block variation. I had to write a couple of lines of CSS to make this happen. This seems like an oversight and one area where the block editor failed to meet my expectations. Of course, this could be handled on the theme side of things.

Overall, this was a relatively simple project. However, this experiment added some complexities that were not present when I recreated the Music Artist homepage. Margin controls and vertical Navigation block alignments are must-haves. Using a third-party plugin and writing custom CSS is not ideal, and these were requirements to make this happen straight from the editor.

All of this is possible from the theme end. Each piece of this design could have been packaged as a block pattern. The overlapping image effect would have made for a neat block style. I just wish that theme authors would start utilizing the features that are being hand-fed to them.

Recreating the Music Artist WordPress Theme Homepage With the Block Editor

One of my favorite activities each week is to peruse the latest themes to land in the WordPress theme directory. Often, there are intriguing design concepts. However, much of the time, I am disappointed to learn that homepage designs of many rely on theme options instead of the block editor.

While the editor has several design limitations, theme authors have tons of room to explore. It has enough power to pull off some of these custom homepage designs with far less code work.

Music Artist was one of the latest themes to catch my eye. I loved the large hero area and several elements of the theme’s design. After installing it, I realized the homepage layout was handled through theme options. However, the theme author could have built this page entirely out of blocks and wrapped each section or even the entire design into block patterns.

This is all doable with the block editor.

So that I am practicing what I am preaching, I took a couple of hours and recreated the homepage demo for the theme directly from the block editor. No code required. There were a few tricky pieces, which I will get into. However, it was not that hard to build and could have been made easier if the theme supported the block editor.

The plan was to replicate the custom page with the Music Artist theme installed. However, the theme’s lack of block support meant that some things were fundamentally broken. Instead, I activated a theme with design similarities, such as fonts and colors. Because I already knew Ariele Lite worked with the block editor, it made sense to see if I could build with it. It proved to be a solid foundation.

The following is a comparison of the original Music Artist theme homepage (first) and a recreation using blocks via the Ariele Lite theme (second):

There are obviously differences in spacing, colors, typography, and other elements. Much of this comes down to stylistic choices by the theme designers. Given more time and modifications via a plugin like Editor Plus, I could have adjusted this enough to get a closer replica. However, my goal was to stick as close as possible as I could to core WordPress. Technically, I have the latest version of the Gutenberg plugin installed, so there might be a few items that have yet to land in WordPress.

For this experiment, I used:

  • WordPress 5.7 Beta
  • Gutenberg 10.1 Beta
  • Ariele Lite 1.0.8
  • Editor Plus 2.6

I only needed Editor Plus to make a couple of margin adjustments on the Group block. I could have left it alone, but I wanted to reduce some of the spacing between sections on the page to get a closer recreation. In the future, we will see more spacing controls in WordPress, so I considered this a fair trade-off.

This experiment is to show theme authors that they can build their custom designs with the block system. Dropping old-school theme options means a lot less code work for developers, allowing them to focus more on styling. End-users also benefit from more flexibility, such as adding custom elements or removing parts they do not want. That does not even include the style options on the individual block level.

The secondary purpose is to show users that they can create some of these homepages without code. The block editor and a well-rounded, block-ready theme can get you pretty far.

Recreating the Music Artist Homepage

Starting with a base of Ariele Lite meant that the design was boxed. However, the theme has a custom “Blank Canvas” page template that lets users design the entire page.

There were elements I could not recreate entirely because of limitations with the block editor. Other parts were issues or design choices coming from the theme.

The following is a general overview of how I accomplished building out each section of the homepage. I will skip over parts like adding colors and changing font sizes while focusing on the layout-related concepts.

Hero Section

Cover block with a music album background and social icons section.

WordPress’s Cover block remains one of my favorite blocks. It allows users to create hero sections without much work. I grabbed the background image from the original demo and plopped it in. I had taken the first real step down this journey.

Then, I added a Heading block, adjusting its size a bit. I followed it with a Spacer and Social Icons block.

I immediately hit two snags. The first was that WordPress does not include an iTunes social icon. I was unable to find an open issue on the Gutenberg repository for this. Perhaps it is not an oft-requested feature. The second issue was that the Social Icons block does not output the social network labels, so I could not replicate that part of the design.

Discography Section

Discography section that lists an artist's albums.

There are a few ways to handle this section. Assuming the albums listed are a custom post type, whatever plugin these albums came from would ideally have a custom block for outputting them. Users could also use the Latest Posts block if these are blog posts or the upcoming Query block.

For simplicity, I decided to add a Columns block and drop three linked images in.

Media and Text Section

Two columns. On the left, an embedded YouTube video. On the right, a heading, paragraph, and button.

My plan for this section was to use the core Media & Text block. However, it only supports self-hosted media. There was no way for me to embed a YouTube video.

Instead, I went with a Columns block. In the left column, I dropped a YouTube video URL. On the right, I added Heading, Paragraph, and Buttons blocks.

Videos Section

A section with two columns, each with an embedded YouTube video.

This was a relatively simple section to recreate. For the layout, it took only a Heading block followed by a Columns block. Then, I grabbed a couple of video links from YouTube and pasted the URLs into the editor.

Latest Posts Section

Three-columned latest posts section with featured images.

This was the part of the layout that I had the most trouble with. WordPress provides the Latest Posts block, which can be set in a grid. However, Ariele Lite did not correctly handle the columns.

So, I cheated a bit.

I switched to a block-based theme that supports the upcoming Full Site Editing feature. Then, I dropped in a Query block to get more control over the columns of posts. Afterward, I switched back to the Ariele Lite theme.

The original design could be done with the current Latest Posts block, so this is not a block-editor problem.

Footer Sidebar Section

A three-columned section: about us, calendar, and image gallery.

Technically, the footer sidebar is outside the scope of the homepage design. It is a part of the theme’s footer across the entire site. However, I decided to add it since I was already on a roll.

This section requires the Columns block. From that point, it is a matter of dropping in a Heading block for each column. I added a Paragraph, Calendar, and Gallery block to recreate the three “widgets.”

Ariele Lite’s Calendar block design works better on a light-colored background. It was a small pain point that I overlooked. In the long term, WordPress should provide design controls on blocks that are missing them.

How to Highlight Text in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide)

Are you looking for a way to highlight text in a WordPress post or page?

Highlighting text can help point the user’s attention to a specific part of your content. This can be great to show off a call to action, a special offer, or to simply add emphasis on specific sentences.

In this article, we will show you how to easily highlight text in WordPress.

Adding text highlight color in WordPress

Why and When to Highlight Text in WordPress

Text highlighting is an easy way to emphasize important information in your content. It helps you direct the user’s attention to details that you don’t want them to miss.

For instance, highlighting a discount offer on your WordPress website in a different color will draw the reader’s attention to it, helping you generate more sales.

Here’s a sample of what text highlighting might look like in a blog post:

Preview for highlighting text in the block editor

Highlighting text in a different color can also help users with visual impairments or reading difficulties to navigate and understand the content more easily. It can even enhance the appearance of your content and make it more visually appealing.

However, highlighting too much text on your page can be distracting and reduce its effectiveness. That’s why we recommend only highlighting very important text like calls to action, warnings, and other details that readers should pay attention to.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily highlight text in WordPress. You can use the quick links below to jump to the method you wish to use:

Method 1: Highlight Text in WordPress Using the Block Editor

This method is for you if you want to easily highlight text in WordPress using the block editor.

First, you will need to open up an existing or new post in the block editor from the WordPress admin sidebar.

Once you are there, simply select the text that you want to highlight and then click the ‘More’ icon in the block toolbar at the top.

This will open up a dropdown menu where you must the ‘Highlight’ option from the list.

Expand the More dropdown menu from the block toolbar and select the Highlight option

A color picker tool will now open up on your screen. From here, you will first need to switch to the ‘Background’ tab.

After that, you can choose a default highlight color from the given options.

You can also select a custom color to highlight text by clicking on the ‘Custom’ option to launch an ‘Eyedropper’ tool.

Choose a highlight color from the color picker tool

Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to save your changes.

You can now visit your website to check out the highlighted text in action.

Preview for highlighting text in the block editor

Method 2: Highlight Text in WordPress Using WPCode (Recommended)

If you want to consistently use a specific color to highlight text all over your WordPress website, then this method is for you.

You can easily highlight text in WordPress by adding CSS code to your theme files. However, the smallest error when entering the code could break your website, making it inaccessible.

That’s why we recommend using WPCode, which is the best WordPress code snippet plugin on the market. It is the easiest and safest way to add code to your website without directly editing your theme files.

Create a Code Snippet With WPCode

First, you need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more instructions, please see our beginners’ guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to the Code Snippets » + Add Snippet page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

Next, just click the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.

Add new snippet

This will take you to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, where you can start by typing a name for your code snippet.

After that, you need to select the ‘CSS Snippet’ option from the ‘Code Type’ dropdown menu.

Note: The ‘CSS Snippet’ option is only available in the premium version of WPCode. If you are using the free version, then you will have to select the ‘Universal Snippet’ option instead.

CSS Snippet as code type for the highlighting text in WordPress

Next, click inside the ‘Code Preview box’.

Then, you have to copy and paste the following code:

mark {
background-color: #ffd4a1;
}

Once you have done that, add the hex code for your preferred highlight color next to the background-color line in the code.

In our example, we are using #ffd4a1, which is a light brown color.

Paste the code snippet to highlight text in WordPress

After that, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section.

From here, select the ‘Auto Insert’ method to automatically execute the code upon activation.

Choose an insertion method

Next, head to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’.

Finally, click the ‘Save Snippet’ button to store your changes.

Save text highlight code snippet

Highlight Text in the Block Editor

Now that the CSS snippet has been activated, we will have to add some HTML code in the block editor to highlight the text in WordPress.

First, open up an existing or new post in the WordPress block editor.

From here, click on the ‘Options’ icon in the block toolbar at the top. This will open up a new dropdown menu where you must select the ‘Edit as HTML’ option.

Choose the edit as HTML option from the Options dropdown menu in the block toolbar

You will now see the block content in HTML format.

Here, simply wrap the text that you want to highlight inside the <mark> </mark> tags like this:

<mark>highlighted-text</mark>

This will highlight the text in the hex color that you choose in your WPCode snippet.

After that, click the ‘Edit Visually’ option in the block toolbar. to switch back to the visual editor.

Write HTML code on both sides of the text that you want to highlight

Once you are done, go ahead and click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Now, you can visit your website to check out the highlighted text in action.

Demo of highlighting text in WordPress

We hope this guide helped you learn how to highlight text in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to customize colors in WordPress to make your website more aesthetically pleasing and our comparison of the best email marketing services to grow your traffic.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Highlight Text in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Gutenberg’s Custom Spacing Should Be Theme Controlled

Using the padding control for the Group block in the WordPress editor.
Adjusting padding on a Group block.

When Gutenberg 9.0 landed earlier this week, it came with an experimental padding control for the Group block. Most users will not see it unless their theme has opted into supporting the feature using the experimental-custom-spacing flag.

This was not the first that we have seen of the padding option on a block. Gutenberg 8.3 introduced it for the Cover block. Since then, nothing has changed with the implementation.

The problem with the custom spacing/padding option is that it creates an inline style that does not adjust based on the design of the theme. Fortunately, the feature is still experimental. This means that we have time to reevaluate how it works.

Unless we’re doing away with any remaining illusion that themes will play an important aspect of WordPress’s future and front-end design becomes fully entrenched within core, theme authors need some level of control. And, even if themes are going the way of the dinosaur, custom padding numbers on the block level will create design consistency issues down the road. Using 100 pixels of padding might make sense within a site’s current design, but 96 pixels might make sense within a future design. When a user adds dozens or hundreds of blocks with custom padding today, it will wreak havoc on tomorrow’s spacing and rhythm.

Besides that, the average user has little concept of design rules. Having a standardized system for spacing would give theme authors control over the output while giving end-users the ability to customize the look.

I have argued that WordPress needs some sort of design framework. For example, Tailwind CSS has specific padding classes. So does Bootstrap and nearly every other CSS framework. The web development community has been down this road. It is a well-trodden path, and WordPress is not innovating by using inline styles.

If the WordPress platform is going to put this sort of power into the hands of its users, it should do so in a way that allows designers to do their thing and not push users toward semi-permanent, inline-style soup in their content.

Pre-Gutenberg, I would have been entirely against the idea of WordPress introducing any sort of CSS or design framework. However, the platform is consistently moving toward becoming a UI-based design tool rather than simply a way to manage content. Users will have design-related options on a global scale all the way down to individual blocks. Users should absolutely have the ability to adjust a block’s padding in such a system. They should not need an understanding of CSS to do so. Instead, for most use cases, users should be able to adjust padding based on whether they want larger or smaller spacing, not specific CSS values.

I propose a full set of standardized padding classes. The same would go for margins or other design-related options down the road. Gutenberg/WordPress should create a set of default values for these classes, which theme authors could override based on their design.

This is not a new concept. Dave Smith, a developer for Automattic, introduced a patch in 2019 that used named selectors for spacing on the Group block. He gave the following reasoning for choosing this approach over absolute values:

Imagine you are a Theme designer. You craft your CSS with spacing that is perfect for the design. You want to ensure that is consistent throughout your Theme, even if the page layout is being created by the end-user in the Block Editor.

With the approach I’ve taken here, when a size is selected only classes are added to the Block in the DOM. This affords the Theme creator the opportunity to provide custom sizes in CSS that are suitable for their Theme. If they opt not to do this then sensible defaults are provided.

With the pixels approach, we’re locking users of the Block into absolute values and asking them to make a lot of decisions that they’d probably prefer not to have to make. It could also lead to an inconsistent visual experience.

This ship has already sailed and sunk with custom colors and font sizes. Gutenberg had an opportunity to standardize class names for these options but left it to theme authors. As a result, there is no standard across the theme market, which means that choosing the “large” font size or the “blue” text color provided by the theme will likely not carry across to the user’s next theme. Now, we are on the cusp of far more design-related options as WordPress moves toward full-site editing. It is time to consider some standards on design-related class names and provide a framework that all themes can use.

Gutenberg could still provide a custom padding option just like it does for colors and font sizes. Users who choose to go this route would be making an explicit choice to work outside of the standard. But, let’s not go down this road of allowing users to set absolute spacing values as the default option.

How to Take a ‘Block Editor’ Approach to Development

The Block Editor has been a highly-contentious subject since it was first announced in 2017. That reaction was not unreasonable, considering that the new interface has significantly impacted WordPress professionals. However, over the past two years adoption of the Block Editor has increased, and many developers have found ways to work with it. Even if […]

The post How to Take a ‘Block Editor’ Approach to Development appeared first on WPArena.

How to Use Distraction Free Fullscreen Editor in WordPress

Do you want to use the distraction-free fullscreen editor in WordPress?

WordPress comes with a built-in distraction-free mode for writers. This feature hides unnecessary elements and gives you a fullscreen canvas to create content.

In this article, we will show you how to easily use the distraction-free fullscreen editor in WordPress.

Use the distraction free full screen editor in WordPress

Why Use the Distraction-Free Fullscreen Editor in WordPress?

Writing your blog posts is a creative process that requires attention to detail and concentration. However, many writers feel distracted by the on-screen elements of the WordPress writing interface, like buttons, columns, toolbars, and more.

When writing a post on your WordPress website, you can use the default distraction-free, spotlight, and fullscreen modes in the block editor for a clutter-free and clean writing interface.

Distraction free mode preview

Using these features can help you focus on your writing and improve productivity by removing distractions like the block panel, block menu, WordPress admin sidebar, and more.

As a writer, this can make the writing process a lot more enjoyable and relaxing for you.

That being said, let’s see how to easily use the distraction-free fullscreen editor in WordPress. We will cover methods for both the block and classic editor and you can use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use:

How to Use the Distraction Free Fullscreen Editor in WordPress Block Editor

If you use the WordPress block editor to write your posts, then you can easily turn on the distraction-free mode by opening up a new or existing post in the editor.

Once you are there, simply click on the three dots icon on the top right corner of the screen.

This will open a prompt where you will notice that the fullscreen mode is already enabled by default.

Full screen mode is already enabled

If you uncheck this option, then the WordPress admin sidebar will be shown on the left side of the content editor.

However, we recommend leaving this setting as it is.

Exit the full screen mode

You can also enable the distraction-free mode by clicking on the three dots at the top.

Next, check the ‘Distraction free’ option from the dropdown menu.

Distraction free mode

Once you do that, the block panel settings on the right and the block menu settings on the left will automatically disappear from the screen.

You will now have a completely clean canvas to start writing your post.

Enable the distraction free mode in the block editor

When you are done writing and want to exit the distraction-free mode, you can also do that by simply hovering your mouse at the top.

This will display the menu at the top of the block editor, where you can click on the three-dot icon to open the dropdown menu. Then, deselect the ‘Distraction free’ option.

Now that you have learned how to enable the fullscreen and distraction-free modes in the WordPress Gutenberg editor, it’s time to activate Spotlight mode.

This mode only highlights the current block that you are working on and dims all other blocks. This allows you to easily focus on one block at a time.

To activate Spotlight mode, simply click the three-dot icon at the top right corner of the screen and select the ‘Spotlight mode’ option.

Enable the spotlight mode

Once you do that, only the block that you are currently working on will be highlighted on the screen, while the rest will fade in the background.

For example, if you are writing a blog post and currently adding some screenshots or images, then only the Image block will be highlighted on the screen, while the Paragraph blocks will fade out.

Spotlight Mode highlights one block at a time

You can now write your blog post without distractions in the WordPress block editor.

However, keep in mind that there is a toolbar that you will still see on the screen in distraction-free mode. This toolbar allows you to add new blocks, undo changes, and show an outline of your article.

Distraction free mode preview

Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to store your settings.

Now, the distraction-free settings that you have configured will automatically be implemented for all the posts and pages that you edit in the block editor.

How to Use the Distraction Free Fullscreen Editor in WordPress Classic Editor

If you are still using the old WordPress classic editor, then you can use this method to activate the distraction-free, fullscreen editor.

To do this, just open a new or existing post of your liking in the classic editor.

Then, click on the ‘Distraction-free writing mode’ button in your post menu bar.

Enable distraction free mode in the Classic editor

WordPress will now convert the screen into a clutter-free, fullscreen editor.

The fullscreen editor has a minimalist layout. It has a menu bar on top of the screen with text formatting options and even lets you easily switch between the visual and text editors.

Distraction free mode preview in the classic editor

However, the fullscreen editor does not have a Publish button or any meta boxes to choose categories and tags.

Once you are done, you can easily exit the distraction-free mode by hovering your mouse on the left or right side of the screen.

On doing that, all the hidden settings and the WordPress dashboard will become visible.

Now, simply click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to store your post settings.

Exit distraction free mode in the classic editor

Bonus Tips for Using the WordPress Block Editor

Other than enabling the distraction-free mode, you can also use some other features in the block editor to improve your productivity.

You can use keyboard shortcuts to create content more quickly. For example, simply type / into the content editor, followed by the name of the block you want to use.

The block editor will then show you blocks that you can insert straight into your content by clicking on them.

Insert block keyboard shortcut

You can also use the reusable blocks feature to save any content block and reuse it in other posts and pages on your website.

This can save you lots of time and effort.

Creating a reusable block in WordPress

To become a complete pro at using the block editor, you can see our complete Gutenberg tutorial.

We hope this article helped you learn how to use the distraction-free fullscreen editor in WordPress. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to check grammar and spelling mistakes in WordPress and our expert picks for the best Gutenberg blocks plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Use Distraction Free Fullscreen Editor in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

The Evolution of the Default WordPress Themes (2003 to 2019)

WordPress has been around for more than a decade and a half now, and a lot has changed since the very beginning in 2003. The platform has seen several User Interface (UI) advancements, for example, and is forging ahead into 2019 with the new Block Editor. We’ve also started seeing the rise of mobile responsiveness as a key feature in the default WordPress themes.