You may have started using WordPress because you wanted to be able to build a website without having to code. And it’s true. You can build a website with WordPress without ever coding a single line. But if you’re willing to learn just a little bit of basic CSS, you can substantially increase the power you have to manipulate the appearance of your website.
Have you ever used the customizer for a WordPress theme and saw the Additional CSS section and wondered what you could possibly type into it? Well, I’ve got good news. I can teach you really quick.
Start by Doing
The best way to understand what I’m writing about is to actually try the things I’m about to discuss. You should be using a laptop or desktop and you should be using a browser with development tools like Chrome or Firefox.
The first thing I want you to do is right click somewhere on the text you are reading then scroll down and click inspect element (or it may just read as inspect). When you do this a new window should open up.
You should see two windows within the new window. One of the windows should be have a highlighted line. The highlighted line is the line you’re inspecting. In the other window, you should see something that reads “font-size” with a number next to it. You may have to scroll down a bit.
Make sure you memorize the number then go ahead and change that number and see what happens.
Did you figure out how to make it back here?
Great job. You just changed the CSS.
Now if you get a new WordPress theme, you can change it by writing in new CSS code into the Additional CSS section of your customizer.
If you’d like to see a more specific example of how to update the CSS of a WordPress theme, then you can download my free WordPress theme here, and follow the example here.
Oh, by the way, if you can’t figure out how to close that new developer window just hit the f12 key
Questions About How to Learn Basic CSS
If you have any questions about how to learn basic CSS, then please post them in the comments area.