How to Customize Blockquotes Style in WordPress Themes
Hi there, WordPress enthusiasts! I’m Naveed Ahmed, a seasoned WordPress developer with over 15 years of experience, and I’m here to guide you through the exciting world of customizing blockquotes in your WordPress themes. Blockquotes are a powerful tool for highlighting key takeaways, showcasing expert opinions, and adding visual appeal to your content. Let’s explore how to make them truly stand out and engage your readers.
You might be wondering why you should bother customizing blockquotes in the first place. Well, in a world saturated with online content, making your website visually appealing and unique is paramount. Blockquotes, when styled thoughtfully, can become a captivating element, attracting readers’ attention and improving the overall user experience. I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of well-designed blockquotes on my own projects – they can significantly enhance the readability and shareability of your content.
Why Use and Customize Blockquotes Style in WordPress?
Blockquotes are versatile, offering a multitude of benefits for your WordPress website:
- **Enhanced Readability**: They break up large chunks of text, making it easier for readers to digest information. This is particularly important for longer blog posts and articles.
- **Highlighting Important Points**: Blockquotes help emphasize key takeaways, quotes, or expert opinions within your content. This ensures readers don’t miss crucial information.
- **Increased Engagement**: When you make your blockquotes eye-catching, they encourage readers to pause, reflect, and engage with your content. This can lead to increased time spent on your site and improved conversion rates.
- **Improved Social Sharing**: Well-designed blockquotes often make for compelling social media shares. This can boost your website’s visibility and help you reach a wider audience.
Now that you understand the value of customizing blockquotes, let’s dive into the two primary methods for achieving this in WordPress: using a plugin and adding custom CSS.
Method 1: Customize Blockquotes Style Using a Plugin
Plugins offer a user-friendly way to customize blockquotes without diving into complex code. My recommendation is Spectra – WordPress Gutenberg Blocks. This free plugin expands the capabilities of the WordPress block editor, including adding customizable blockquotes.
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- **Install and Activate Spectra**: Begin by installing and activating the Spectra – WordPress Gutenberg Blocks plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory. You can find detailed instructions on how to install a WordPress plugin in our extensive resources.
- **Explore the Spectra Blocks**: Once activated, navigate to Spectra » Blocks from your WordPress admin sidebar. This page will showcase all the additional blocks provided by the plugin, including the Blockquote block.
- **Customize the Blockquote**: Now, open a page or post in the block editor (Gutenberg). Click the ‘+’ button in the top-left corner to add a Blockquote block anywhere in your content. Enter your text within the Blockquote area.
- **Configure the Layout**: On the right-hand panel, you’ll find options to configure the Blockquote’s layout. Choose ‘Border’ for a simple design, ‘Quotation’ to add quotation marks, select text alignment, and more.
- **Add an Author Image**: To further enhance your blockquote, add an author image by selecting the ‘Author Image’ option.
- **Style the Blockquote**: Switch to the ‘Style’ tab in the block panel. This allows you to fine-tune elements like quote icon size, background size, color, typography, author color, and spacing.
- **Publish or Update**: Click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button at the top to save your settings. Visit your WordPress blog to view the stylized Blockquote in action.
Method 2: Add Custom CSS to Customize Blockquotes Style Using WPCode
If you prefer a hands-on approach and enjoy coding, custom CSS allows you to precisely control the appearance of your blockquotes. WPCode, a leading code snippets plugin, makes adding custom CSS a breeze.
Here’s the process:
- **Install and Activate WPCode**: Begin by installing and activating the WPCode plugin. You can find detailed instructions on how to install a WordPress plugin in our comprehensive resources.
- **Create a New Snippet**: Navigate to Code Snippets » + Add Snippet from your WordPress admin sidebar. Click on the ‘Use Snippet’ button under ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet).’
- **Name Your Snippet**: You’ll be taken to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page. Begin by providing a descriptive name for your code snippet.
- **Select CSS Snippet**: Choose ‘CSS Snippet’ as the code type from the dropdown menu in the right corner of the screen.
- **Add Custom CSS**: Paste any of the following custom CSS code snippets into the ‘Code Preview’ box. Remember that these settings will affect the default ‘Quote’ block in WordPress.
- **Add Code and Save**: Once you’ve chosen a blockquote style and added its CSS code, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section. Select ‘Auto Insert’ mode so the code automatically applies upon activation. Toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’ and click ‘Save Snippet’ to store your changes.
Custom CSS Blockquote Styles
Below are a selection of CSS blockquote styles you can use. Remember to replace the image URLs with the ones for your images.
1. Classic CSS Blockquote
blockquote { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 18px; font-style: italic; width: 450px; margin: 0.25em 0; padding: 0.25em 40px; line-height: 1.45; position: relative; color: #383838; background:#ececec; } blockquote:before { display: block; content: "\201C"; font-size: 80px; position: absolute; left: -10px; top: -10px; color: #7a7a7a; } blockquote cite { color: #999999; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 5px; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
2. Classic Blockquote With Image
blockquote { font: 16px italic Georgia, serif; width:450px; padding-left: 70px; padding-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 18px; padding-right: 10px; background-color: #dadada; border-top: 1px solid #ccc; border-bottom: 3px solid #ccc; margin: 5px; background-image: url(http://example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/gray-georgia.png); background-position: middle left; background-repeat: no-repeat; text-indent: 23px; } blockquote cite { color: #a1a1a1; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 5px; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
3. Simple Blockquote
blockquote { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; width: 500px; margin: 0.25em 0; padding: 0.25em 40px; line-height: 1.45; position: relative; color: #383838; border-left:3px dashed #c1c1c1; background:#eee; } blockquote cite { color: #999999; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 5px; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
4. White, Blue, and Orange Blockquote
blockquote { font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; width: 450px; margin: 0.25em 0; padding: 0.25em 40px; line-height: 1.45; position: relative; color: #FFF; border-left:5px solid #FF7F00; background:#4b8baf; } blockquote cite { color: #efefef; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 5px; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
5. Using Google Web Fonts for Blockquotes in CSS
blockquote { @import url(http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Droid+Serif:400italic); font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif; font-size:16px; font-style:italic; width:450px; background-color:#fbf6f0; border-left:3px dashed #d5bc8c; border-right:3px dashed #d5bc8c; text-align:center; } blockquote cite { color: #a1a1a1; font-size: 14px; display: block; margin-top: 5px; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
6. Round Corner Blockquote
blockquote { width: 450px; background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 6px; box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #ccc; font-style: italic; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
7. Using Gradient as Background for Blockquote
blockquote { width: 450px; color:#FFF; background: #7d7e7d; /* Old browsers */ background: -moz-linear-gradient(top, #7d7e7d 0%, #0e0e0e 100%); /* FF3.6+ */ background: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, color-stop(0%,#7d7e7d), color-stop(100%,#0e0e0e)); /* Chrome,Safari4+ */ background: -webkit-linear-gradient(top, #7d7e7d 0%,#0e0e0e 100%); /* Chrome10+,Safari5.1+ */ background: -o-linear-gradient(top, #7d7e7d 0%,#0e0e0e 100%); /* Opera 11.10+ */ background: -ms-linear-gradient(top, #7d7e7d 0%,#0e0e0e 100%); /* IE10+ */ background: linear-gradient(to bottom, #7d7e7d 0%,#0e0e0e 100%); /* W3C */ filter: progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.gradient( startColorstr='#7d7e7d', endColorstr='#0e0e0e',GradientType=0 ); /* IE6-9 */ border: 1px solid #ccc; border-radius: 6px; box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #ccc; font-style: italic; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
8. Blockquote With Background Pattern
blockquote { width: 450px; background-image:url('http://example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/lined_paper.png'); border: 1px solid #ccc; box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #ccc; font-style: italic; } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
9. Using Multiple Images in Blockquote Background
blockquote { width: 450px; background-image:url('http://example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/lined_paper.png'); border: 1px solid #ccc; box-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #ccc; font-style: italic; } blockquote:before{ position:absolute; margin-top:-20px; margin-left:-20px; content:url('http://example.com/wp-content/themes/your-theme/images/pin.png'); } blockquote cite:before { content: "\2014 \2009"; }
Bonus: Display Random Quotes in the WordPress Sidebar
To boost user engagement and showcase positive feedback, consider displaying random customer quotes in your WordPress sidebar. This can encourage visitors to explore your website further, potentially leading to purchases or sign-ups for your newsletter.
To implement this, you’ll need the Quotes and Tips plugin. Here’s how:
- **Install and Activate**: Install and activate the Quotes and Tips plugin from the WordPress Plugin Directory. You can find detailed instructions on how to install a WordPress plugin in our comprehensive resources.
- **Add New Quotes**: Navigate to Quotes » Add New and enter your customer quotes into the text editor. Click ‘Publish’ to save each quote.
- **Copy Shortcode**: Go to Quotes » Settings and copy the shortcode provided in the ‘Quotes and Tips’ section.
- **Paste Shortcode**: Paste the shortcode into the sidebar or any widget area where you want to display the random quotes.
Conclusion
Customizing blockquotes is a simple yet powerful technique to enhance the visual appeal, readability, and engagement of your WordPress website. You have the flexibility to choose between using a plugin like Spectra or applying custom CSS using WPCode. Remember, the key is to experiment and find the styles that best match your website’s design and content. If you’re interested in learning more about tech news and WordPress development, feel free to visit my website: www.naveedahmed.me.
FAQs
What is the best way to customize blockquotes in WordPress?
The best method depends on your comfort level with coding. Plugins like Spectra offer a user-friendly approach, while custom CSS provides greater control. Choose the option that suits your skills and preferences.
Can I use multiple blockquote styles on the same WordPress website?
Absolutely! You can define different CSS classes for your blockquotes and apply them selectively. This allows you to create diverse styles for various types of quotes or to match different sections of your website.
How do I ensure my blockquotes are responsive on different devices?
Responsive design is crucial for a great user experience. When writing your custom CSS, use media queries to adjust the blockquote’s appearance based on screen size. This ensures your quotes look great on desktops, tablets, and mobile phones.
How can I add quotation marks to my blockquotes?
You can achieve this using CSS. The ‘content’ property lets you insert characters like quotation marks. For example, you could add `content: “\201C”`, which will insert a left double quotation mark.
Is there a way to remove the default blockquote styling?
Yes, you can override the default styling with your custom CSS. Add a more specific selector to your custom CSS to ensure your styles take precedence over the theme’s default styling.
How can I change the font used in my blockquotes?
Simply use the `font-family` property in your CSS. For example, you can set `font-family: ‘Arial’, sans-serif;` to use the Arial font.
How do I control the spacing around my blockquotes?
You can use the `margin` property in your CSS to adjust the top, bottom, left, and right spacing around your blockquotes.
Can I add a background color to my blockquotes?
Absolutely! Use the `background-color` property in your CSS to set a background color for your blockquotes.
How can I add a border to my blockquotes?
Use the `border` property in your CSS. You can specify the border’s style, width, and color. For example, `border: 3px solid #ccc;` creates a 3px solid grey border.
Is there a way to make my blockquotes stand out even more?
You can use CSS to add shadows, rounded corners, or even gradients to make your blockquotes visually distinctive.