Personalize Your Blog with the New Custom Design Upgrade
Today we’re excited to bring you Custom Design, a powerful new tool that combines easy to use, code-free font selection from Typekit and a beautiful CSS editing interface with world-class support from our famous WordPress.com Happiness Engineers.
You’ll find both new features—Fonts and CSS—under Appearance → Custom Design in your dashboard. Custom Design costs just $30 a year, and both features include a free preview so you can try them out first.
Example of Custom Design landing screen.
Fonts Made Super Easy
The Font Editor provides a visual preview of your blog with over 50 gorgeous premium Typekit fonts—from foundries like Mark Simonson, exljbris, FontFont, and the League of Moveable Type—and allows you to easily modify the size and style of your fonts. It works with all themes, no coding skills required!
Example of choosing fonts with the Font Editor.
We worked closely with Typekit on this new tool—incorporating their long experience with delivering beautiful fonts on the web—to create the best experience possible. With the Custom Design upgrade comes the ability to manage all your Typekit fonts settings from within your dashboard; you no longer need to make a roundtrip to Typekit and back to update the fonts on your blog.
If you are already using Typekit fonts on your blog, you are grandfathered in—meaning your fonts will continue to display as they do now but you’ll have limited editing and functionality. To take advantage of all the new features, we encourage you to upgrade to Custom Design.
CSS Backed by Expertise
Our popular CSS editing tool received a visual refresh with its merge into the Custom Design upgrade. If you know your way around a cascading style sheet, you can use the CSS Editor to really put a personal touch on your blog and create an entirely new design.
CSS editor in action.
If your site already has custom CSS enabled, it will continue to work as it does now, and visitors will see no changes to your design. Furthermore, you’ve been upgraded to the new Custom Design package for free, so you now have full access to all the new features, including the Font Editor.
Along with the CSS Editor updates we’re making the WordPress.com CSS forum officially supported by the WP.com Happiness team. Bring your CSS customization questions to the forum and you can get expert help.
From your feedback—and by seeing your cool customizations in use all over WordPress.com—we know that design tools on WordPress.com are put to good use, so we hope you love this new upgrade. Fonts are now incredibly easy. We’re now helping you craft your CSS. Let’s make something beautiful.
If you’d like more details on the new upgrade, head over to Custom Design.
- June 15, 2011
- Customization, Design, Features, New Features, Upgrade
WordPress.com News 
What a great way for novice bloggers, like myself, to use different fonts.
LikeLike
Great, great idea; that empowers the user to not have to run out and hire a designer to make such small fundamental customizations. Good job WordPress.com!
LikeLike
Great new feature, gets out cc.
LikeLike
Woah! CSS support? Awesome!
LikeLike
Although I am happy with the kind of design I have right now, it seems like a fantastic upgrade and especially the fact that the forum is getting the full attention of wp.com’s engineers is yet another awesome thing!
Keep ’em coming!
LikeLike
Only for those who can afford.
LikeLike
If the Custom Design upgrade looks too steep we still have over 100 beautiful free themes — and many more on the way — with their own style and personality. Many, like the just-released Twenty Eleven, have their own custom design options that let you tweak your blog’s look to your liking.
LikeLike
I really like the idea of font customization. There are many themes I would like to use, but I reject them because of the font. I think many bloggers underestimate the importance of easy to read fonts in the body of their posts!
LikeLike
Thanks bunches, guys! I’m going to try it out on my test blog in a second. (I’m too chicken to dink around and mess up my current css yet).. X
LikeLike
Fantastic addition! Customizing fonts would allow us to make our blogs more unique.
LikeLike
I like love any idea about customization. I may consider this!
LikeLike
Totally liking this feature. Been using Typekit and Custom CSS already and this is a wonderful addtion.
LikeLike
New upgrades on design sound great , I’m very happy with the way my blog looks , but it’s nice to have cool options right !!?!
LikeLike
Bravo! Typefaces can have an amazing impact on the look and feel of any communication using the written word. Type can change the mood from happy to sad or from frivolous to serious. Thanks so much!
LikeLike
Amazing! I don’t get the codes at all, so this makes all the problems vanish! If I can figure out how to work CSS, that’s just another bonus. Thanks WordPress!
LikeLike
I played around with the free trial and it’s great! It’s so easy to use. I just bought a new theme (Traction) and I wanted to change the font around. I’m most likely going to try this.
I do have a question, though. If I get Custom Design, will I be able to play around/have full access with the CSS coding or is that separate?
LikeLike
Yep. Custom CSS and Fonts are both activated with the Custom Design upgrade so you’ll have full access to the CSS.
LikeLike
Cool feature, but I just can’t bring myself to pay for all these new shiny upgrades on a free hosting service that limits the capability of my blogs. It’s starting to feel very much like the free WordPress.com is slowly being killed off while still restricting WordPress. If you start taking the limits on your service away, and allow us to run a full-fledged working WordPress platform, then I’m all for paying for these upgrades.
LikeLike
Nice! I’ll give it a whirl!
LikeLike
Good news! The “old way we used to setup TypeKit before was a bit anti-user-friendly. This one is great.
LikeLike
Wonderful! I’m with Margie — there are lots of blog designs that I liked more than the simple one I ended up picking. So many seemed to have tough fonts to read – and since a large portion of my readers are 50+ being easy to read is really important in my blog.
Looking forward to expiermenting with this in the near future!
LikeLike
Cool. CSS support forum. That’s added bonus for me.
LikeLike
Wow, this is great news. I am in the process of sourcing a custom WordPress theme designer for my new web site, but perhaps I can try out WP’s Custom Design instead and save some cash! Glad to hear it’s user-friendly and intuitive.
LikeLike
Wowers, I am a totally un-coded tech-phobe, so you WordPress folks are wonders in making the world of cyberspace…almost understandable (albeit at a basic level).
Thanks for all your work behind the scenes, look forward to learning more about how to negotiate the WordPress world 😉
LikeLike
A good feature! I will try it. 🙂
LikeLike
Awesome, I love that you are officially going to be providing support for CSS, the volunteers need all the help they can get!
LikeLike
Cool, will take advantage!
LikeLike
Great!
LikeLike
This is great!! Love the options.
LikeLike
Looking forward to checking this out!
LikeLike
Nice!!
LikeLike
REALLY looking forward to trying this out — anything that makes the experience less cumbersome is a good thing, as I want to be able to focus on my writing!
LikeLike
Exactly what I’ve been looking for. Now if I could only get it to work with my Word Documents I’d be set! Good job again as usual WP!
LikeLike
It don’t feel its worth thirty dollars, for you to take away free Typekit support. The font changing part should be a free option. While the interface is a fantastic feat you need to drop the price to an impulse buy. $10 for the font options, $20 for CSS, $30 combo for those who need both. The majority of people aren’t going to use CSS.
LikeLike
Nice, but I can’t afford it, yet.
LikeLike
amazing update, great work guys 😀
LikeLike
I love the idea of official CSS support in the forum and I love my CSS Upgrade. Do I really need Typekit too if I can change my fonts with the CSS Upgrade? I’ve found that blogs with Typekit tend to load very slowly. Not quite sure why you married these two upgrades and whether that’s truly beneficial or simply a higher cost. But I appreciate being grandfathered in and the discount for the next round very much!
LikeLike
In addition to the CSS editor, the WordPress.com Custom Design upgrade includes a popular set of Typekit fonts which can be managed directly inside your WordPress.com site admin pages. If you combine the Custom Design upgrade with a Typekit account from Typekit.com, you get access to the Typekit.com kit editor and the entire Typekit font library. So if you’re happy with the fonts in the WordPress.com Custom Fonts page, you don’t need to have an additional Typekit.com account.
LikeLike
It’s really cool, thanks. I’ll try it now.
LikeLike
Wow, thank you so much for this! WordPress rocks!
LikeLike
*Reads about personalizing blog with custom designs.* Happy, happy, happy, “like” times a billion!
*Reads that it’ll cost money.* Face droops. 😦
LikeLike
Looks really great!
LikeLike
I can see how this can be a big plus to serious bloggers… for myself and all the would-be bloggers the free stuff is more than sufficient 🙂
LikeLike
Yay!! Another step toward greatness.
LikeLike
Thanks for the update 🙂
LikeLike
Great new service. Amazing WordPress.
LikeLike
This is pretty cool! 🙂
LikeLike
$30 is not a great deal but in some countries online transaction is very difficult. In my country PayPal is not allowed, and a credit card is hard to get.
LikeLike
That’s JUST what I’ve been hoping for. No time to play around with CSS. Consider yourself $30 richer. 🙂
LikeLike
Good offers, but I know that there are some nice themes for free with awesome designs, and also more easy to use. 🙂
LikeLike
Amazing. 😀
LikeLike
Great job, I purchased it 5 minutes after trying it out. Thanks WordPress!
LikeLike
Wow, nice change, I like it.
LikeLike
I wish some of those features were free — though the upgrade is appreciated.
LikeLike
Good to see the custom design available!
LikeLike
Woo, amazing. I am gonna try it.
LikeLike
Another awesome thing from WordPress. 😀
LikeLike
I love that WordPress is constantly working to make its service better for it’s users. Kudos to you!
LikeLike
I really do love customizing my fonts into my own personal way that I like. But, the only thing that’s holding me back is the money I have to pay.
LikeLike
While this is a nice upgrade (the preview before you pay is very nice), I myself am quite disappointed in this change. I’ve seen it coming for several months now: WP is starting to nickel and dime us with [paid] options. And in this case, after first giving them to us for free. As a TypeKit user, I went in to check out the new Fonts options. Typekit offers so many more fonts! My current font isn’t available via the WP dashboard.
Most of the time I feel that WP does a good job of going over and above its users’ expectations, but in this case, they slipped up. If I want to mess with my fonts, I’ll just go self hosted. That’s cheaper than this upgrade.
LikeLike
Will I ‘upgrade’ for 30$/ £20 per year? Nope, it’s far too expensive, especially considering Blogger and LiveJournal charge nothing for customising CSS sheets, they are ad supported though so I suppose that makes a difference.
LikeLike
Does 30 dollars cover all the sites you have on a WordPress.com blog or just one? WordPress.com is great and a big thanks for always evolving!
LikeLike
Thanks! The cost covers one blog.
LikeLike
Good stuff. I’ll be using this feature.
LikeLike
Good deal – thanks.
LikeLike
I love these new features! When I’m typing a document using Microsoft Word, I keep changing the fonts. I was disappointed when I couldn’t change what font my blog had without getting a Typekit account. Thank you so much!
LikeLike
Looks awesome!
LikeLike
This is totally amazing really. Makes blogging interesting. Thanks.
LikeLike
Great job, WordPress. I’ve been hoping for something like this. ^^
LikeLike
Awesome!
Too bad it’s not for free. Ah, well, we can only have so much free stuff.
LikeLike
I guess I will get to learn how to do this…EVENTUALLY!!!!!
LikeLike
Good, but not free.
LikeLike
The interface looks great & easy to use, but it feels weird to pay for fonts when the feature used to be free. And paying for CSS when Blogger does it for free? Also confusing. Would totally jump on board if it was free though! 🙂
LikeLike
Well, it’s great and everything but it’s kind of expensive and I’m the kind of the blogger that doesn’t write everyday, and I’m only 12 so I’m not going to waste my allowance in that! Sorry.
LikeLike
Not free …but certainly reasonable.
LikeLike
Cool stuff!
LikeLike
Nice to hear, but just wondering why there’s a charge for this when you can do it for free on Blogger? It’s frustrating that you have pay if you want any customizations in WordPress.
LikeLike
Design costs just $30 a year. No thanks. For this money I can rent my own server and do everything I want.
LikeLike
This is a good upgrade! Thanks! 🙂
LikeLike
Excellent! Just wish the $30 covered up to, say, two or three blogs. I’d like to be able to play with the CSS on a test blog before rolling it out in my main blog. Or maybe it’s possible to transfer the upgrade from blog to blog…? I guess that could get quite confusing and become a PITA for the developers.
LikeLike
For testing on multiple blogs we recommend entering the CSS code and using the free preview feature. You can preview font changes for free, too.
LikeLike
Woo, amazing. I am gonna try it.
LikeLike
So I’m glad that you guys are making tools for changing the appearance of the blogs. But at the same time, I’m kind of disturbed that we should have to pay to pick between a serif and sans-serif font, and to pick between -1, 0, and +1 for font sizes. I’m not saying anything about the huge varieties of TypeKit fonts and the nice previewing mechanism you provided. I just think that users should be able to do the most basic font changes for free, even if it is just the difference between choosing between default serif and default sans-serif. Putting aside how much I love the way my blog looks with Museo headers, all I really need is that basic functionality, and 30$ is too steep for just that.
LikeLike
Good. I love it! And I want to learn more.
LikeLike
It’s awesome. I hope I can make my own theme with this cool tool.
LikeLike
WordPress you do so much lovely stuff for free that I have no problem paying for nice twiddly bits and this is certainly one of those. Great job and really looking forward to playing with those fabulous fonts.
LikeLike
Wow. Awesome.
LikeLike
Too expensive…
LikeLike
I need to wait until I have a job.
But I like these features.
LikeLike
Important step toward the right direction…
LikeLike
I like it!
LikeLike
This is fantastic! Just what I have been looking for!
LikeLike
I’m with Casey! It was all good play with until you scroll to the bottom and realize there is a $30. And that wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t hosting 3 separate blogs on your server. $30/year for all registered blogs = more reasonable. But when you look at it, it’s really just $3.00 a month and there is NO designer out there who will even change the background color of your site for that price. *shrugs shoulders* Whatever works!
LikeLike
Love it! and might go for it ……
LikeLike
I’ve not long joined so I’m happy this has happened now – anything to help make the blog stand out a bit more.
LikeLike
I agree these are nice features but 30 per year seems kind of steep for what it is.
LikeLike
WordPress is getting better and better! 🙂 This is such great news.
LikeLike
I like this update.
LikeLike
Perhaps a bit pricey? Ah well. Aside from that small hindrance, it’s a nice option.
LikeLike
Good move. I think I can use this for my blog!
LikeLike
Amazing development, I love it!
LikeLike
Great! I just started and something good is happening! 🙂 I love the idea of new fonts!
LikeLike
There is definitely a useful tool to get a more personal look and at the same time you do not need to use the toolkit with fonts that was difficult to figure out where they was in certain formats. At least me who has been only blogging for 4 months now, but I love it. Thanks for giving me a new hobby as work. 😉
LikeLike