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Amir Vincent

Amir Vincent is a digital-marketing entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Canada Create™, a Toronto-based agency specializing in SEO, web design, paid search, and social-media strategies for international clients

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Transform Your WordPress Site: A Simple Guide to Changing Background Color

how-to-change-background-color-in-wordpress

Want to change the background color in WordPress? Here's a beginner guide on how to customize your WordPress background color, the easy way.

The background color of your website plays a crucial role in shaping the overall atmosphere for your visitors.

Whether you prefer a clean and professional look, a warm and inviting feel, or a bold and creative style, selecting the right background color can significantly enhance your site’s appeal.

Fortunately, changing your background color is straightforward and doesn’t require any technical expertise or costly tools. WordPress offers built-in options that allow you to customize colors with just a few clicks.

After assisting numerous site owners in personalizing their websites, we’ve discovered that many are pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy the process is.

We will guide you through three simple methods to change your background color in WordPress, starting with the easiest option and progressing to slightly more advanced techniques.

The Importance of Your WordPress Background Color 🎨

Consider the background color of your website as the walls of your digital space. While your WordPress theme comes with a preset color, selecting the right background can greatly influence how inviting your site feels to visitors.

Here’s why this design element in WordPress is essential:

  • They enhance the readability of your content.
  • They highlight key information effectively.
  • They establish the overall mood of your website.
  • Enhancing your website’s appearance can give it a more professional look.

Choosing the right background color can effectively highlight important buttons and boost your conversion rates. You can also utilize different colors to better organize your content, such as assigning specific colors for various blog categories or important announcements.

To make your site even more captivating, consider adding video backgrounds to grab your visitors’ attention.

Now, let’s explore how to change the background color in WordPress. We will guide you through various methods to customize your background color, allowing you to jump to the section that suits you best:

  • Changing Background Color in WordPress Theme Customizer
  • Changing Background Color in Full Site Editor (2024 Method)
  • Changing Background Color in WordPress Using CSS
  • Randomly Changing Background Colors in WordPress
  • Changing Background Color for Individual Posts
  • Bonus Tip: Utilize a Page Builder for Enhanced Design Control
  • FAQs: Changing Background Colors in WordPress

Changing Background Color in WordPress Theme Customizer

Depending on your theme, you can easily change the background color using the WordPress Theme Customizer. This feature allows you to modify your site’s appearance in real-time without any coding.

To access the WordPress Theme Customizer, log in to your website and navigate to Appearance » Customize.

This will launch the Theme Customizer, where you’ll discover various options to personalize your theme, including menus, colors, homepage settings, widgets, background images, and more.

The specific options you see will vary depending on the WordPress theme your site is using. For this guide, we will be using the default Twenty Twenty-One theme.

To change your website’s background color, click on the ‘Colors & Dark Mode’ settings tab located in the left menu.

Next, select the ‘Background Color’ option and pick a color for your site.

You can either use the color picker tool or input a Hex color code for your background.

Once you have made your changes, be sure to click the ‘Publish’ button to save them.

You can now visit your WordPress website to see the new background color applied.

If your theme doesn’t support this option in the Theme Customizer, you can explore the alternative methods listed below.

Step-by-Step Guide to Changing Background Color in Full Site Editor (2024)

The Full Site Editor (FSE) is a powerful WordPress tool designed for editing block themes, making it easy to customize your site’s background color. Let’s go through the steps together.

Begin by navigating to Appearance » Editor in your WordPress dashboard.

You’ll find a ‘Styles’ button among the menu options.

Click on it to proceed.

Next, select the pencil icon to edit.

This action will take you to the editing interface.

On the right side of your screen, you’ll see a convenient panel that serves as your design control center, allowing you to adjust colors, fonts, and more.

To modify your background color, simply click on ‘Colors’ in the Styles panel.

Then, select ‘Background.’

You can choose a solid color or create a gradient that suits your style. Once you’re satisfied with your selection, click ‘Save’ to apply the changes!

How to Change Background Color in WordPress Using CSS

Are you interested in learning how to change the background color with CSS?

You can also change the background color of your WordPress website by adding custom CSS in the WordPress Theme Customizer.

To begin, navigate to Appearance » Customize and select the ‘Additional CSS’ section.

Next, input the following code:

body { background-color: #FFFFFF;
}

Simply replace the background color code with your desired color code for your website. Then, enter the code in the Additional CSS section.

Once you’re finished, remember to click the ‘Publish’ button. You can now check your website to see the updated background color.

For further information, please check our guide on how to easily add custom CSS to your WordPress site.

How to Randomly Change Background Colors in WordPress

Are you interested in a method to randomly change the background color in WordPress?

You can implement a smooth background color transition effect that automatically cycles through various colors until it settles on the final color.

To implement this effect, you’ll need to insert some code into your WordPress site. We’ll guide you through the steps below.

First, identify the CSS class of the section where you want to apply the smooth background color transition effect.

You can accomplish this by using the Inspect tool in your web browser. Simply hover over the area you wish to modify, right-click, and select the Inspect option.

Next, make a note of the CSS class you intend to target. For instance, in the example shown above, we aim to target the section with the CSS class ‘page-header.’

Now, open a plain text editor on your computer, such as Notepad, and create a new file. Save this file as ‘wpb-background-tutorial.js’ on your desktop.

After that, you can insert the following code into the JavaScript file you just created:

jQuery(function($){ $('.page-header').each(function(){ var $this = $(this), colors = ['#ec008c', '#00bcc3', '#5fb26a', '#fc7331']; setInterval(function(){ var color = colors.shift(); colors.push(color); $this.animate({backgroundColor: color}, 2000); },4000); }); });

By examining the code, you’ll observe that we utilized the ‘page-header’ CSS class, which is the specific area we aim to modify on our website.

You’ll notice that we’ve included four colors using hex color codes. You can incorporate as many colors as you desire for your background. Simply input the color codes in the snippet, separating them with commas and single quotes, just like the other colors.

Once your JavaScript file is prepared, you’ll need to upload it to the JS folder of your WordPress theme. The simplest method to do this is by using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client, which allows you to manage files directly on your web server.

For this tutorial, we will be using FileZilla. It is a free and user-friendly FTP client available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. We have personally tested it and found it to be an effective tool for managing website files.

To begin, log in to your website’s FTP server. You can find your login credentials in the email from your hosting provider or within your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.

After logging in, you will see a list of folders and files for your website in the ‘Remote site’ column. Navigate to the JS folder within your theme’s directory.

If your theme does not have a JS folder, you can easily create one.

To create a new directory, simply right-click on your theme’s folder in the FTP client and select the ‘Create directory’ option.

Next, navigate to the location of your JavaScript file under the ‘Local site’ column.

Right-click on the file and select the ‘Upload’ option to add it to your theme.

For more information, you can check our tutorial on using FTP to upload files to WordPress.

Now, you’ll need to add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file. This code ensures that the JavaScript file and the necessary jQuery script are loaded correctly:

function wpb_bg_color_scripts() {
wp_enqueue_script( 'wpb-background-tutorial', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . 'js/wpb-background-tutorial.js', array( 'jquery-color' ), '1.0.0', true ); }
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_bg_color_scripts' );

We recommend using the free WPCode plugin to safely add the code to your site. For more information, see our guide on how to paste snippets from the web into WordPress.

You can now visit your website to see the randomly changing colors in action in the designated area.

How to Change the Background Color for Individual Posts

You can customize the background color of each individual blog post in WordPress, rather than applying a single color across your entire website, by using custom CSS.

This feature allows you to enhance the look of specific posts and tailor their backgrounds. For instance, you can adjust the style of each post based on the author or highlight your most commented post with a unique background color.

You can also set different background colors for posts within specific categories. For example, you might want news posts to have one background color while tutorials have another.

To get started, locate the post ID class in your theme’s CSS. You can find this by opening any blog post, right-clicking, and selecting the Inspect tool in your browser.

Here’s an example of how it will appear:

After obtaining your post ID, you can change the background color of an individual post by applying the following custom CSS. Simply replace the post ID with your own and adjust the background color code as desired.

.post-104 {
background-color: #D7DEB5;
color:#FFFFFF;
}

To add custom CSS, use the WordPress Theme Customizer. First, log in to your WordPress site. Then, navigate to your blog post and click the ‘Customize’ option at the top.

Next, go to the Additional CSS section in the left-hand menu.

Now, input your custom CSS.

After that, click the ‘Publish’ button.

You can now return to your blog post to view the updated background color.

If you wish to change the background color based on the author, comments, or category, check out our comprehensive tutorial on styling each WordPress post uniquely.

Pro Tip: Utilize a Page Builder for Enhanced Design Flexibility

Changing background colors is just the beginning. To gain complete control over your website’s design, a page builder can provide endless possibilities.

At CanadaCreate, we recommend SeedProd as it is the most popular and user-friendly page builder for WordPress. Our partner brands, including WPForms, Duplicator, and Charitable, have successfully used it to design their websites.

It offers you total design control and allows you to:

  • Create any page without needing to code
  • Personalize colors, layouts, and spacing to match your style
  • Design stunning pages in just a few minutes
  • Ensure your pages look fantastic on all devices

We have extensively tested the tool in our demo environment and found it to be highly intuitive and user-friendly. For more details about our experience, check out our SeedProd review.

Getting started is straightforward – simply install and activate SeedProd by following our easy WordPress plugin installation guide.

Important:You can begin with the free version, but upgrading to SeedProd Pro provides access to additional templates and design features if needed.

Once the plugin is activated, you will be prompted to enter your license key. This key can be found in your SeedProd account area. After entering the key, click the ‘Verify Key’ button.

Next, navigate to SeedProd » Pages.

From this section, click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.

Then, choose a theme for your landing page. SeedProd offers a variety of attractive landing page templates to help you get started.

You can also opt for a blank template to create your page from scratch. However, we recommend using a template as it simplifies and speeds up the landing page creation process.

When you choose a template, you’ll need to provide a Page Name and select a URL.

Next, simply click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

On the following screen, you’ll encounter the SeedProd page builder. Here, you can utilize the drag-and-drop feature to add various blocks from the menu on your left, including headlines, videos, images, buttons, and more.

As you scroll down, you’ll find additional blocks in the Advanced section. For instance, you can incorporate a countdown timer to create urgency, display social profiles to boost followers, and add a form to collect leads, among other options.

With the drag-and-drop builder, rearranging the position of each block on your landing page is a breeze. You can also modify the layout, size, color, and font of the text.

To change the background color of your landing page, simply click on any section of the page. You’ll then see options in the menu on your left to customize the background style, color, and add an image.

Once you’ve finished editing your landing page, remember to click the ‘Save’ button at the top.

After that, navigate to the ‘Connect’ tab to link the page with various email marketing services, such as Constant Contact, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), and others.

Next, click on the ‘Page Settings’ tab.

Here, you can change the Page Status from Draft to Publish to make your page live.

Additionally, you can modify the SEO settings for the page, view analytics, add custom code in the Scripts section, and enter a custom domain.

Once you’re finished, exit the SeedProd page builder and visit your customized landing page.

Frequently Asked Questions: Changing Background Colors in WordPress

Here are some common questions from our readers regarding changing background colors in WordPress:

Can I use an image as my background instead of a solid color?

Yes, you can definitely do that. Most WordPress themes that allow background color changes also provide an option to upload a background image.

You can usually find this option in the Theme Customizer (Appearance » Customize) under a section labeled ‘Background Image.’ From there, you can upload a file from your computer.

Will changing my background color impact my site’s loading speed?

A solid background color has minimal effect on your site’s loading speed, making it a safe and effective choice for performance.

Using a large, unoptimized background image can greatly impact your page load speed. If you choose to use an image, we highly recommend compressing it beforehand.

For additional tips, check out our guide on optimizing images for the web while maintaining quality.

How can I determine the hex code for my brand color?

A hex code is a six-digit code that identifies a specific color (e.g., #FFFFFF for pure white). The best way to find your brand’s hex code is by consulting your company’s official style guide.

If you don’t have a style guide, you can use a free online tool like HTML Color Codes. Their color picker tool allows you to find the exact hex code for any color shade you desire.

We hope this article has helped you learn how to change the background color in WordPress. You might also want to explore our guide on converting Figma designs to WordPress and our comparison of the top web design software.

If you enjoyed this article, please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also connect with us on Twitter and Facebook.

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