The Paragraph Block

The Paragraph block is your foundation for sharing God's word and connecting with your community online. Let's explore how to use this essential tool to create engaging, meaningful content for your website.

Think of the Paragraph block as your digital paper – it's where you'll write announcements, share stories of faith, and keep your congregation informed. Every time you start typing in a new line, WordPress automatically creates a new Paragraph block for you.

Paragraph Block

The most common way to add text:

1. Click the blue + button in your WordPress editor (located in the upper left corner)
2. Type "Paragraph" in the search or find it under the "Text" section
3. Click the Paragraph block icon
4. Begin typing your content

Ministry Tip: As you type, press Enter to automatically create new paragraph blocks.

Block toolbar

Every block comes with its own set of controls, enabling you to manage it directly within the editor. By hovering over the buttons, you can see tooltips that reveal what each button does and display any available keyboard shortcuts.

The toolbar for the paragraph block includes the following buttons

• Transform to
• Block-moving tools
• Change text alignment
• Bold and Italics
• Insert links
• More rich text controls
• Options

Transform to

The 'Transform to' button allows you to convert the Paragraph block into various formats, such as Heading, List, and Quote blocks. You can also change the text content into Columns, Pullquote, Code, Group, Preformatted, and Verse blocks. Using any of these options will alter the text's appearance or style.

Convert your paragraph into:

• Headings
• Lists
• Quotes
• Columns
• Pullquotes
• Code blocks
• Groups
• Preformatted text
• Verse

Block-moving tools

To move the Paragraph block, use the block-moving tools. The drag (six dots) icon lets you reposition the block anywhere within the editor by holding the icon and dragging it to your desired location. Alternatively, you can use the arrow icons to move the block up or down among nested or multiple blocks.

Change text alignment

• Drag handle (six dots): Move blocks freely
• Arrow buttons: Move up/down between blocks

Bold and Italics 

You can customize the text in the Paragraph block using the Bold and Italics formatting options. Additionally, you can use these keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl + B or Command + B to bold the text

• Ctrl + I or Command + I to italicize the text

Insert links

The Insert Links tool allows you to add a hyperlink to the selected text

Learn more about link editing options

The rich text menu offers additional ways to enhance your ministry's message. Here you'll find tools for highlighting, strikethrough, and inline code to help your content connect with your community.

Other rich text options

The More options menu in the Rich Text toolbar provides additional text formatting features. Access these by clicking the arrow icon in the toolbar:

• Footnote: Insert linked notes that appear at the bottom of your page
• Highlight: Change text and background colors
• Inline code: Format and display code snippets within text
• Inline image: Add media library images with customizable width
• Keyboard input: Add the <kbd> tag to text
• Language: Specify text language and direction (using language codes like es, en, fr, de)
• Strikethrough: Add a line through text
• Subscript/Superscript: Format text above or below the normal line

Clear unknown formatting appears only when WordPress detects unrecognized formatting, typically from content pasted from external editors. Using this option removes any problematic code without affecting your ability to apply other formatting.

More options

Click the three dots menu on the far right of your toolbar to find helpful tools for duplicating your content, removing blocks, or editing your text as HTML.

Block settings

Each block in WordPress has settings that help you shape your message. To find these options for your paragraph, click the Settings button in the top-right corner of your editor. Here you'll discover tools to customize your content.

Color

The color settings in the block editor allow you to customize text color, background color, link color, gradients, and duotone filters for your blocks. Available options vary by theme and block type.

Accessing Color Settings

1. Select your block
2. Open Block Settings sidebar (click the cog icon near Publish/Update)
3. Find the "Color" section
4. Click the three-dot menu to see all available color options
5. Use "Reset All" in the three-dot menu to restore default settings

Available Settings

Choose colors in two ways:

• Select from your theme's color palette
• Create custom colors using:
  • Color picker
  • HEX, RGB, or HSL values

Each block offers different color customization options for text and background, helping you highlight important content while maintaining your site's visual identity.

Typography

The Typography settings help you shape how your text appears. Adjust font size, style, family, and letter spacing to create clear, readable content that welcomes your community.

Typography settings allow you to customize text appearance in your blocks by adjusting font family, size, line height, case, spacing, and style. These settings are available in the block editor's sidebar.

Accessing Typography Settings

1. Select your block
2. Open Block Settings sidebar (click the cog icon)
3. Find the "Typography" section
4. Click the three-dot menu to see all available options
5. Use "Reset All" to restore defaults

Key Settings

• Font Family: Choose from theme-available fonts
• Font Size: Select preset sizes (S/M/L/XL) or custom values using px, em, or rem
• Line Height: Adjust spacing between lines
• Letter Case: Choose all caps, lowercase, or capitalized first letter
• Letter Spacing: Control space between characters
• Decoration: Add underline or strikethrough
• Appearance: Adjust weight (Thin to Black) and style (Regular to Italic)

Dimensions

The paragraph block offers multiple ways to adjust its size, including width and height, enabling you to tailor the text layout for consistent visual appeal.

Advanced

The Advanced tab allows you to enhance your block by adding an HTML anchor and CSS classes.

The Advanced settings allow you to add an HTML anchor and CSS classes to the Group block.

• HTML Anchor: Create a unique anchor text for the Group block and link it to another webpage. For more details, refer to Page Jumps.

• Additional CSS Classes: Add custom CSS classes to the Group block, enabling you to style the block as desired.

Heading Block

Create clear section titles:

1. Click the blue + button in your WordPress editor (located in the upper left corner)
2. Search or click "Heading"
3. Type your heading text

Ministry Tip: Use different heading levels to organize your content hierarchically (like "Sabbath Service" as H2, then "Order of Service" as H3).