Looking to take your WordPress skills to the next level?
You need to try CSS.
Not only does CSS save you time in your WordPress crafting, but it also transforms your visitors’ experience of your site.
You’ll get users talking–and converting–without breaking the bank in the least and in no time at all.
You also don’t have to be a coding master to really grasp the power of CSS. No matter what level you are at, you can have a few CSS tricks up your sleeve.
Check out these top fifteen cool CSS tricks for WordPress success.
15 Cool CSS Tricks You Haven’t Tried
Getting Started with CSS
First of all, what is CSS?
Not to worry. CSS is a coding language that relates to pretty much how your entire website is laid out.
Think of CSS as the person who’s leading a presentation for your office, walking you through setup, WordPress themes, and templates. (Except CSS is really a wizard).
CSS covers fonts and site presentation, and covers how to make your website adaptable to a variety of screens and formats.
Basically, by maximizing the power of CSS with your WordPress, you’ll maximize user experience. And this, of course, can lead to all sorts of awesome things for you and your business.
CSS can look scary at first, but don’t let that deter you. There are hundreds of ways to implement it, and lots of advice and guides out there to lead you in the right direction.
Don’t forget the great thing about web design: you know right away when something isn’t working, and you have tools at your disposal to identify these areas of opportunity and maximize potential.
1. Before and After Selectors
You may be asking, why are these so rad when it comes to cool CSS tricks?
Before and After CSS selectors are pretty much essential to content on any website. Before selectors add selectable content in front of a title. Think a button that says NEW in red type face next to a recently added blog post.
After selectors come (you guessed it!) right after a spot of content, such as a “Read More” selector after an excerpt from a blog post. These are useful in so many contexts, we won’t even try to give an example.
Getting the hang of these is central to a smoothly formatted site that leads readers to the right content with the right emphasis.
You can also apply these selectors to your entire site. This is called a global application.
2. Drop Caps
Remember those illustrated books you’d read as a child with the huge colorful starting letter of each title?
Yeah, those are pretty cool.
One of the cool CSS tricks out there is to add this to your site design, whether it’s to start off a sweet blog post or give an introduction to an article on your homepage.
Drop caps can carry a color theme through and add just the right amount of flair to block text your viewer will appreciate.
3. Text that Adapts to Your Content
Who wants to read boring blocks of text?
When it comes to cool CSS tricks, this one has your reader’s engagement at the fore.
With this trick, you can shape or mold your text to a particular image or other content piece so that it doesn’t follow traditional straight borders.
Think about text bending around an image of your product. This can give a more efficient, creative presentation to your content.
4. Making Certain Fields Mandatory
Your website may currently have a form submission integrated into the “Contact Us” page or other similarly-minded page.
If you’re tired of getting incomplete forms delivered to your inbox all of the time, access one of the cool CSS tricks out there and make certain fields of the submission form required.
This CSS trick will keep the user on the form submission page until all fields are filled out. H/she will not be able to submit the form until everything is complete.
5. Change Up Text Select Color
Typically, whenever anyone selects any portion of text on a website, it shows up as a standard color. This is often going to be blue.
But what if you want to use a different color? There’s a cool CSS trick for that. You can change the text selector to reflect in any color of the rainbow available.
This is particularly useful if you want to extend a certain color theme throughout your website or make text more visible given a certain background color you’ve chosen.
Plus, it looks awesome!
6. Make Your Quotations Look Like Quotes
If your website incorporates a lot of quotations, you should definitely check out this CSS trick.
Whenever you type a standard quotation mark using your computer keyboard, you likely don’t get the curly proper quotations, as in this: ”
You can get those curly quotations now with cool CSS tricks. Now you can site certain quotes and make them look like quotes should look with a professional set of actual quotation marks.
Not convinced? Flip open any magazine and look at a feature article. Check out those quotation marks surrounded the lifted, enlarged quotes highlighted on certain pages.
You won’t want to go back to the old ones, we guarantee it!
7. Bring on the Hover
We all want the images on our website to do some serious heavy-lifting. Images should not only deliver on a brand, but they should also augment your website in as many ways as possible.
Do this with one of the top cool CSS tricks out there: make images hover. This effect essentially freezes a certain image in a spread so that it hovers in the viewer’s screen vision.
This is particularly awesome for sites that display portfolios or series of icons.
8. The Circle Menu
When it comes to adapting your site to multiple devices, it’s essential that viewers be able to view all menu options available.
Sometimes this can be a hard feature to control, and a traditional drop down menu may not translate to mobile devices.
The circle menu essentially makes icons leap out of a singular icon in a circular arc. This works with nearly every interface and enables viewers to keep hold of content without sacrificing any screen experience.
Plus, it can be super engaging the first time you try it! There’s a similar menu option that is called the Gooey Menu, which pops out icons in a less sporadic visual.
9. Make it Flow
Once again, when it comes to cool CSS tricks, you want to keep device viewability at the top of your list.
Luckily, there’s a new feature out there that you can incorporate using good old CSS which allows content to flow with a select background. This is called the Pure CSS Parallax Effect.
It’s important to not overwhelm your user with this effect, so use it wisely.
However, it can have an immensely engaging effect and leave a pretty sweet visual in your user’s mind, making this effect a priority when it comes to marketing.
10. Bring on the 3D Modeling
Okay, this may actually be the best of the cool CSS tricks on our list. We aren’t just working with 2D anymore when it comes to CSS.
Bring on the 3D!
With CSS, you can incorporate three-dimensional models of literally anything you can dream up. This is particularly useful if you are incorporating schema or educational content for viewers.
Keep in mind that interactive sites are competitive sites. Working in 3D content is more likely to attract users and keep them engaged throughout their user experience.
The good news is that this feature is also translatable to most mobile devices.
11. Incorporate Animation
If you’re not quite ready for 3D, or if your content is not needing 3D modeling at the moment, you can still incorporate animation.
You can include animation in all browsers now by creating a transition or a keyframe. It is easier to create a transition, particularly if you are newer to CSS and WordPress.
Keep in mind that if you do include animation, you’ll still want to ensure your website comes across as professional and concise. Animation can make your website stand out above the rest, but make sure it doesn’t compromise your content.
The best advice for animation is to use it with a clear objective in mind. The more intentional your CSS animation, the better!
12. Use your Own Web Fonts
In the past, web design was limited in the types of fonts available.
Now, you can create your own font simply by relying on CSS. Who knew that such cool CSS tricks existed?
Font really can change the user experience. You want to make sure your font relates to the theme you have chosen and the content you’ve presented.
You can declare your own fonts with CSS, defining them based off of their traits, name, and style. You can then add these to your font bank and recall them throughout your web design process.
13. Make Boxes Manageable
One annoying thing that comes up in WordPress adventures is the box sizing issue. If you want to add padding or borders to a box of any kind, you may encounter inconsistency in sizing as a result.
With the box sizing CSS trick, you can totally avoid this. Any time you add padding or borders to a box, you keep the size you want–and don’t compromise on your content.
It’s a simple trick, but effective for both CSS beginners and CSS pros.
14. Get Many Backgrounds at Once
Tired of just the same old background throughout your website? Yet again, CSS saves the day.
You can stack multiple backgrounds at once with a handful of cool CSS tricks, and animate them each individually. This can give a sense of movement to your site and higher interactivity.
15. Organize Your Content with Columns
By changing the format of your content on your web page, you can expand viewer interest and engagement and build a more competitive design.
You may also encourage readership. For example, would you rather read a block text of something or an article that’s in short columns?
When it comes to cool CSS tricks, this is one of the most fundamental. CSS puts your content in columns for ease of reading and fresh style.
Hungry for More?
If you’re super pumped about all the cool CSS tricks out there and how they can turn your website around in no time, you’re probably looking for other ways you can change your web design game.
Also, don’t underestimate the power of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and other web design tools. Give us a call so we can chat about taking your website to the next level when it comes to design and users.
Maximizing Your CSS Technique
When it comes to changing the game with your web design, CSS is your answer. This coding language will ensure a professional and interactive interface that your users will love.
The great news is that you can power through a few cool CSS tricks in no time with very little coding experience. When it comes to top tricks, think about reader engagement on the page and try adapting your text to mold to certain content, changing colors of text selectors, and incorporating drop caps.
At the end of the day, always think about user experience when you make any changes in WordPress. You want your user to come away from your site wowed and with an impression distinct to your marketing plan.
Keep this at the fore as you navigate the magic of CSS and you will see results.
Speaking of results, we can help with that. At ShiftWeb Solutions, we are the experts when it comes to all things website.
Talk to us about SEO, cool CSS tricks, or any other cool web design and optimization acronym, and we’ll help you find the solutions to all of your website needs.
Jumpstart your CSS today, and you’ll be expanding your customer base in no time!