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

Want to make key information stand out in your WordPress content? Implementing text highlights can be an effective way to guide your readers.

In this comprehensive beginner‘s guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about highlighting words, sentences, and paragraphs in WordPress.

Why You Should Use Text Highlights in WordPress

Before we dive into the implementation, let‘s discuss some of the benefits text highlights can provide:

Draw Attention to Crucial Points

Highlighting reinforces the most critical information in your content that you want readers to take away. This helps break up dense blocks of text and guide users to important points.

According to an Nielsen Norman Group study, 79% of users scan web content rather than reading word for word. Highlights cater perfectly to these users by signalling the information you want them to absorb.

Boost Conversions with Special Offers

For ecommerce sites, highlights are highly effective at calling attention to coupons, sales, special deals, and limited-time offers.

An eye-catching highlight in a contrasting color around a discount code helps it stand out on the page. This technique can increase the chance of users taking advantage of the offer, which translates to higher conversion rates.

In fact, one Paypal study found that using high-contrast fonts and colors for discounts resulted in a 300% increase in code usage.

Enhance Scannability and Readability

Highlights improve content scannability and readability by allowing users to rapidly sift through articles for the most useful nuggets of info.

Per UX studies by Nielsen Norman Group, only 16% of users read word-for-word. The rest skim and scan looking for key points relevant to them.

By highlighting the most salient sentences and paragraphs, you enable users to quickly extract the info they need.

Boost Accessibility for Impaired Users

For those with visual impairments or reading disabilities like dyslexia, highlights can enhance accessibility and comprehension.

Bright, pronounced highlights provide greater visual contrast against body text. This makes it easier for those with poor vision to navigate and digest content.

Studies show using thoughtful text highlighting techniques improves readability for those with dyslexia.

Add Visual Interest to Content

Subtle highlights layered into body content can also make page text more aesthetically appealing by adding pops of color. This breaks up heavy blocks of black text on white.

However, take care not to overdo highlights, as too many will become distracting and lose effectiveness. Use them strategically to maintain visual interest.

Now that you understand the benefits, let‘s look at how to implement highlights in WordPress.

Method 1: Using the Highlight Text Block Tool

The WordPress block editor provides a simple highlighter option requiring no HTML or CSS:

How to Highlight Text with the Block Tool

1. When editing a post or page, highlight the text you want to call out.

2. Click on the "More" options menu in the block toolbar.

3. Select "Highlight" from the dropdown.

4. Pick one of the predefined highlight color options.

5. Hit publish/update to apply the highlighting.

That‘s all there is to it! The block editor will automatically wrap the selected words in a <mark> HTML tag and apply inline CSS for the chosen color.

Limitations of the Block Highlighter

While handy, the built-in highlighter has some limitations:

• Only allows a set selection of colors. No custom colors.
• Colors will not be consistent across different highlighted text.
• Highlights are not standardized across all pages and posts.

For most users, this simplicity will suffice. But for more advanced control, a custom CSS snippet works better.

Method 2: Using a Custom CSS Code Snippet (Recommended)

Implementing highlights via custom CSS allows advanced customization and consistency across your site. Here‘s how to do it with the WPCode plugin.

Step 1: Install and Activate WPCode

WPCode allows you to easily add CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and other code snippets without editing theme files. This protects your site from accidentally breaking things.

To install:

1. In your WP dashboard, go to Plugins » Add New.

2. Search for "WPCode" and click "Install Now".

3. After installation completes, click "Activate".

Step 2: Create a New CSS Snippet

Now we‘ll create a custom CSS snippet to handle your highlights:

1. Go to WPCode » Add Snippet in your WP dashboard.

2. Click "Add Custom Code" and give your snippet a name like "Text Highlighter".

3. Select "CSS Snippet" as the code type.

4. Paste the following into the CSS editor:

/* Adjust highlight color here */
mark {
  background-color: #ffd4a1; 
}

5. Set the insertion method to "Auto Insert".

6. Save your snippet.

This will automatically apply that CSS highlighting to any <mark> tagged text across your site.

Step 3: Add HTML Tags to Highlight Text

Now within your post editor, you can wrap text in <mark> tags to activate the highlighting:

1. When editing a post, select the "Edit as HTML" option.

2. Add <mark> opening and closing tags around text like so:

<mark>This text will highlight</mark> 

3. Publish your post and the custom colored highlight will appear!

Reuse this HTML anywhere to consistently highlight important text. You can adjust the highlight color by editing the CSS snippet at any time.

Pro Tips for Effective Highlighting

Here are some expert tips for implementing text highlights that maximize effectiveness:

• Use sparingly – Avoid overusing highlights. Reserve them for your most important points only.

• Keep it short – Limit highlights to concise phrases, sentences, or short paragraphs. Don‘t highlight huge blocks.

• Make it scannable – Break up long sections by highlighting summary/intro sentences in each paragraph.

• Use unique color – Pick a color that contrasts well against your theme‘s body text.

• Test accessibility – Ensure your highlight colors meet minimum contrast ratios for visibility.

• Highlight links – In addition to text, consider highlighting external links in a different color to identify them.

Wrapping Up

And that covers everything you need to know to start highlighting important text in WordPress!

Used thoughtfully, highlights are a great way to make critical information stand out. They provide immense value for your readers by enhancing scannability, comprehension, conversions, and more.

I hope this guide gives you a good foundation for implementing your own text highlighting techniques in WordPress. Let me know if you have any other questions!