Where did the font size instructions go?

kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 8:29 am
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Dear staff

When I try to access these support docs from the support index: http://en.support.wordpress.com/editors/font-size-color/ & http://en.support.wordpress.com/editors/styling-individual-posts-and-pages/ I get redirected to this document: http://en.support.wordpress.com/advanced-html/

However, the Advanced HTML document does not contain the instructions on changing font size and colour that used to be available at the other link and which I was able to access still last week. Are those instructions now contained in a different support doc? Searching the support section only directs me to the links I have already tried.

Thank you.

P.S. I tried a different browser and clearing my cache as well. Those links still redirect.
galois · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 8:41 am
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P.S. I tried a different browser and clearing my cache as well. Those links still redirect.

Me too
1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Jul 22, 2014 at 8:51 am
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Strange.
Perhaps the-powers-that-be are in the process of editing the information, and prematurely posted an incomplete document? I hope staff does reply about the logic of this soon!

Here is an article from a long-time volunteer about how to adjust color and text size in the text editor:

Formatting text pt. 5: color, size, and font
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 8:53 am
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@1tess
Thanks. I wanted to point another user to the instructions and then they were gone and timethief’s blog also only pointed to the support doc. Didn’t think to look on this blog.
1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Jul 22, 2014 at 9:04 am
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Yes, wel,l I cannot explain why that old link now only goes to an incomplete support article. I hope tptb are not in the process of dumbing down wp.com, nor that they are planning to make such spot customization a paid upgrade. At this point we can only wait for an official response.

I have not heard from that blogger for some long months, but then again, I have also been away from WordPress.com for quite some time. His advice should still work, though!
rachelmcr · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 1:15 pm
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Hi all,

We decided to revamp those support pages into a series on working with HTML:
But it looks like the instructions for changing font size and color within posts didn’t make it into those new pages. I’ll check with the team and find the best place to fit those back in. Sorry about that, and thanks for the heads up!
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 1:47 pm
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@rachelmcr
Thanks for looking into it :)
galois · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:14 pm
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Here is an article from a long-time volunteer

@1tess & @kokkieh: Panos, Master of the Universe.
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:21 pm
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@galois
I wouldn’t know. I only discovered that blog after they’d stopped posting new articles and have never encountered the owner :-D
galois · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:27 pm
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The owner is Panos, or “justpi” ;)
https://en.forums.wordpress.com/profile/justpi <— a great person.
timethief · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:39 pm
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@kokkieh
Can you please provide the URLs for the post or posts on my blog that you referred to so I can fix the links?
1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:51 pm
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@galois,
You’ll be making panaghiotisadam blush.
≥^!^≤
timethief · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 3:52 pm
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@1tess
Are you kidding? lol :D IMHO he’s the least likely to blush of any of the Volunteers.
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 4:01 pm
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@timethief
The link to the missing support doc is in this post: http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/02/04/changing-fonts-in-wordpress-com-blogs/
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 4:02 pm
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@galois
You’re clearly an admirer ;-)
rachelmcr · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 4:13 pm
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Hi all,

I talked over these support pages with the team, and we’ve decided not to add back in the instructions for changing things like font size and color.

Inline CSS can still be used to make changes like that within posts, but it can create a lot of work if, for example, you switch the theme on a blog and suddenly all of that inline formatting looks off. Customizing things like fonts and colors globally within the theme, using custom design, makes it easier to make changes and switch themes down the road.

For users who’d still like to make those inline changes, the resources at the end of the Advanced HTML page include information about using inline CSS for formatting, and of course you’re welcome to link to other resources to explain how it works. In addition, the Visual editor includes some font color options:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/visual-editor/#text-color

I hope that helps explain the reasoning behind this change! Let me know if you have any more feedback about that.
galois · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 4:44 pm
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@1tess & TT: LOL

@kokkieh: absolutely. :)

I hope tptb are not in the process of dumbing down wp.com, nor that they are planning to make such spot customization a paid upgrade. At this point we can only wait for an official response.

@1tess:: not quite, but… :P
1tess · Moderator Emeritus · Jul 22, 2014 at 5:41 pm
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@rachelmcr,
The documentation for the “drop down style” editor should be updated to note that it is not good practice to use headings of various sizes to change the font-size. They are meant to organize your posts and pages when they are read by search engines.
http://en.support.wordpress.com/visual-editor/#toc

The <h1> to <h6> tags are used to define HTML headings.

<h1> defines the most important heading. <h6> defines the least important heading.
http://www.w3schools.com/tags/tag_hn.asp
kokkieh · Staff · Jul 22, 2014 at 5:50 pm
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@rachelmcr
I understand the reasoning behind it. Not here long enough yet to know whether I agree or not ;-)

I see the old links have been removed from the index, so at least there won’t be further confusion about it.

Thanks again for following up.
timethief · Member · Jul 22, 2014 at 5:53 pm
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@1tess
I’ve already blogged that because I discovered so many bloggers abusing H1 – H6 heading tags. Lately viewing blogs here is like being back at Blogger (retch!).
WordPress.com: Heading Tags from h1 – h6

re: dumbingdown
I could be wrong but it seems to me that the dumbing is well underway. The support docs seem to bel aimed at using the dumbed down editor, rather than the real editor on our dashboards.

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