Working in a Paragraph Block in WordPress

Paragraph blocks might not be the sexiest, but they’re going to be the “bread and butter” of the content you’ll be adding to your pages and posts. So, it’s super important to have a solid grasp of how to edit within these workhorse blocks. As you may already know, when you add a page or post, the WordPress editor automatically includes your first block below the page/post title, and it defaults to the paragraph block for that first block.

To add your content, simply place your cursor into the block and start typing away! You can also place your cursor and “paste” content from elsewhere directly into the block.

General Text Formatting in WordPress Paragraph Blocks

For formatting options, click into the block and the hovering toolbar will be revealed. You’ll see that the paragraph symbol will appear to remind you you’re in a paragraph block. (If you were in a different type of block, that block’s symbol would appear, instead.)  But from here, you also have the option to transform the block into something else! Click on the symbol to see the other options which are available.

The next set of formatting icons are for aligning text left, right, or center. For bold and italic text, you can highlight a selection and then click on the icon to change it to bold, italics, or both. But you can also change the text of the entire block to bold or italics by right clicking the symbol(s) as they appear at the top of the block.

Including internal (other pages on your site) and external (others’ content) links to your site is important for SEO. Highlight a word or string of words that you want to add a clickable link to (as we did with SEO on the last sentence), then click on the “link” symbol in the menu. Type in the URL (better yet, paste it from your browser to ensure no typos!) into the box that appears, and hit enter to create the link. If you want to direct visitors to a new window when they click the link (which we highly recommend because it keeps people from leaving your site!), choose “more options” and hit the “toggle” to update to “open in new window.” To remove a link, highlight it and deselect the hyperlink icon.

The strikethrough rich text control enables you to apply strike through styling (like this!) to any highlighted piece of text. Other options in the toolbar let you duplicate, move, or delete the entire block.

Additional Formatting Options in Paragraph Blocks

Let’s turn our attention to the settings sidebar where you’ll find additional formatting choices. Here you can adjust the font size of your text to small, medium, large, or extra large. If you want to return to the default settings “Reset.” If you’d prefer a custom size font, use the slider to adjust or enter the specific pixel value in the open field.

A Drop Cap, like the “A” to your left, can be added to the start of your paragraph block with a simple toggle. You can also add splashes of color to your text and background. Apply a background color to the entire block or adjust the color of the font within it. You can also change both the background and the text colors within the same block – but be careful! Some color combos will compromise how readable your page is, which means you’ll make your visitors have to work too hard. (That is: They’ll “bounce” from your site.) The good news is that WordPress will warn you when selected colors or pairings of colors will affect readability. Once you adjust your color selection to something more user friendly, the message will disappear. And that’s it! Formatting text – for emphasis, clarity, or even fun! – is super simple when you just know how to get around.