My default font suddenly changed overnight. How do I get the original back?

  • Unknown's avatar
    ursulahuws · Member ·

    I have been using the twenty eleven theme for the past 14 years and, although there have been some hiccups around other issues, the basic style and fonts have always been solid. Now suddenly overnight the default font has changed to one that is barely readable . Has anyone else experienced this problem? And if so PLEASE could you advise me how to get the original font back.

    The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)

  • Unknown's avatar
    eyukaz · Member ·

    Hey there.
    I know how frustrating it is to see a different font on your site specially when it was changed without your knowledge.

    The default font for Twenty Eleven is “Helvetica Neue” (with fallbacks like Helvetica, Arial, and sans-serif). If it’s suddenly changed and become barely readable, it could be due to a theme update, a plugin conflict, or custom CSS gone awry

    Here are potential fixes:

    1. Check Theme Settings First

    • Go to your WordPress Dashboard.
    • Navigate to Appearance > Customize.
    • Look for a Fonts or Typography section
    • If you see a font setting that’s not “Helvetica Neue,” reset it to the default or select “Helvetica Neue” if available.

    2. Check if newly installed or update plugins and even the Twenty Eleven theme is causing this changes:

    Deactivate Recent Plugins: A plugin update might have overridden your font. Go to Plugins > Installed Plugins, deactivate any recently updated or added plugins one by one, and check if the font reverts.

    3. Restore the Default Font with CSS

    Check Theme Updates: If Twenty Eleven updated recently, it might have altered something. Go to Appearance > Themes and ensure you’re on the latest version (as of March 2025, it’s likely 4.x). If you suspect an update caused this, consider rolling back to a previous version via a backup

    If the above doesn’t work, you can manually enforce the original font using custom CSS:

    • Go to Appearance > Customize > Additional CSS.
    • Add the following code to reset the body font to Twenty Eleven’s default css body { font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; /* Default size in Twenty Eleven */ }
    • Click Publish and refresh your site to see if it’s back to normal.

    4. Check for Unintended Customizations

    • If you’ve ever added custom CSS or edited the theme files (e.g., style.css), it might have been overridden or corrupted. Go to Appearance > Theme File Editor, open style.css, and search for font-family. The original should look like this around line 300 (depending on version):cssbody { font: 15px/1.625 "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; }
    • If it’s different, replace it with the above and save.

    Let me know how it goes and I’ll try my best to assist you further

  • Unknown's avatar
    ursulahuws · Member ·

    thanks for getting back to me. Unfortunately most of the options you suggest are not available to me (I did upgrade the site for a while but it became unaffordable and I reverted to the free basic site with the ads). None of the fonts you mention appears in the drop-down list but the nearest equivalent is Noto sans. This is not perfect but I suppose good enough.

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