WordPress dashicons integration walkthrough

If you’ve ever used WordPress, you’ve probably noticed those sleek little icons scattered across the admin dashboard. These are dashicons – WordPress’s built-in icon set, designed to make your site both functional and visually appealing.

While they work great behind the scenes, what many people don’t realize is that dashicons can also be used to elevate your site’s front-end – no heavy plugins or theme overhauls required. They’re a handy tool for improving navigation, making custom post types stand out, and adding subtle visual cues to your site.

Whether you’re a WordPress beginner or a seasoned developer, you can easily integrate dashicons into your site with just a little bit of code. This post will walk you through everything you need to know about dashicons – what they are, how they work, and how you can use them to give your site a polished, professional touch. You’ll also learn styling tips to tweak their appearance to match your brand perfectly!

Key points

Dashicons are WordPress’s built-in icon set used to enhance the admin dashboard and front-end design. They provide visual appeal, improve navigation, and add cues to menus, custom post types, and content.
Dashicons are lightweight but rely on good hosting for optimal performance. For full customization and advanced features, CSS and PHP tweaks provide powerful ways to align dashicons with your brand and enhance site functionality.
Consider managed hosting for WordPress (e.g., Liquid Web) for features like fast load times, built-in security, and scalability.

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How to load dashicons in your WordPress front-end

By default, WordPress loads dashicons in the admin dashboard, but if you want to use them on your site’s front-end, you’ll need to load them manually. Thankfully, it’s a straightforward process. Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1: Enqueue the dashicons style in your theme

To enable dashicons on your front-end, you’ll need to enqueue the dashicons stylesheet. You can do this by adding a small snippet of code to your child theme’s functions.php file:

function load_dashicons_frontend() {
    wp_enqueue_style('dashicons');
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'load_dashicons_frontend');

This code tells WordPress to load the dashicons font in your site’s front-end. Once added, dashicons will be available for use across your pages, posts, menus, and anywhere on your site where you include the appropriate HTML and CSS references.

To ensure that dashicons are properly enqueued on the frontend, view the page source (right-click on your site and select View Page Source). Search for dashicons.css. You should see something like this in the <head> section:

<link rel="stylesheet" id="dashicons-css" href="https://example.com/wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css?ver=6.3" type="text/css" media="all">

Step 2: Add dashicons to your HTML

Now that dashicons are loaded, you can start using them by adding the appropriate dashicon class to your HTML (referenced through a CSS class format). Add a block or switch to the HTML editing mode in the WordPress Block Editor (Gutenberg) or the Classic Editor. Then, paste this dashicon HTML directly into the content:

<span class="dashicons dashicons-admin-home"></span> Admin Home

This will result in a sleek little home icon that integrates seamlessly with your site’s design.

Step 3: Check your work

After adding the enqueue code and placing some dashicons in your HTML, clear your browser cache and refresh your page. You should see the icons displayed perfectly!

Adding icons to menus and custom post types

Icons can make navigation menus easier to scan and visually appealing. Follow these steps to add dashicons to your menus:

Enable dashicons in the front-end. Make sure you’ve enqueued dashicons in your child theme using the code snippet from the previous section.
Add a dashicon to your menu item using the dashicons class in the menu’s HTML. If you’re using the WordPress menu editor, you can include dashicons via custom links. Example:

<li><a href="#"><span class="dashicons dashicons-admin-site"></span> Home</a></li>

This will display the “Home” menu item with the admin-site icon from dashicons.

Optionally, style the icons. You can tweak the size, spacing, or color of your icons with CSS. For instance:

.menu .dashicons {
    font-size: 18px;
    margin-right: 5px;
    color: #333;
}

Additionally, custom post types are a great way to organize specialized content on your site, improving their usability and making them look polished:

When registering a custom post type, you can specify a dashicon in the menu_icon argument. Here’s an example:

function my_custom_post_type() {
    register_post_type('my_post_type', array(
        'label' => 'My Post Type',
        'public' => true,
        'menu_icon' => 'dashicons-portfolio',
        'supports' => array('title', 'editor', 'thumbnail'),
    ));
}
add_action('init', 'my_custom_post_type');

This will display your custom post type in the admin menu with the “portfolio” Dashicon.

Save your changes, clear your site’s cache, and reload the WordPress admin dashboard. Your custom post type should now have the dashicon next to its name.

Styling dashicons with CSS

Dashicons are incredibly versatile, and with a little CSS, you can customize their appearance to align perfectly with your site’s branding. Whether you want to change their size, color, or position, dashicons are highly flexible and easy to style.

Changing the size of dashicons

Dashicons are rendered as fonts, so you can adjust their size using the font-size property in CSS. Here’s an example:

.dashicons {
    font-size: 24px; /* Adjust size as needed */
}

This snippet changes the default size of dashicons to 24px. Need them smaller or larger? Just tweak the value.

Changing the color of dashicons

By default, dashicons inherit the color of their surrounding text. To change their color, use the color property:

.dashicons {
    color: #0073aa; /* Use your preferred hex code or color name */
}

Want to style specific icons differently? Target them using their unique class:

.dashicons.dashicons-admin-post {
    color: #ff5722;
}

Adding spacing around dashicons

Dashicons can sometimes feel cramped, depending on their placement. Add some breathing room with margins or padding:

.dashicons {
    margin-right: 8px; /* Adds space to the right of the icon */
    vertical-align: middle; /* Ensures proper alignment with text */
}

This is especially useful when dashicons are placed next to text, such as in navigation menus or buttons.

Using hover effects with dashicons

Interactive elements feel more polished with hover effects. You can add a subtle hover animation to dashicons like this:

.dashicons:hover {
    color: #00a0d2;
    transform: scale(1.2); /* Slightly increases size on hover */
    transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out; /* Smooth animation */
}

This makes your icons feel dynamic and responsive.

Rotating or transforming dashicons

For creative uses, you can rotate or scale dashicons using CSS transforms. For example:

.dashicons {
    transform: rotate(45deg); /* Rotates the icon 45 degrees */
}

You can also combine transforms for more advanced effects:

.dashicons {
    transform: rotate(90deg) scale(1.5); /* Rotates and enlarges the icon */
}

Custom dashicon variations with pseudo-elements

If you need to add multiple dashicons to a single element, you can use pseudo-elements:

.button::before {
    content: '\f147'; /* Unicode for the icon */
    font-family: dashicons;
    margin-right: 5px;
}

This technique is perfect for buttons or links that need more than one icon or additional decorative elements.

Boost your WordPress performance with Liquid Web’s managed hosting

Dashicons are an easy and effective way to add personality and functionality to your WordPress site. They help you enhance menus, improve navigation, and style custom post types – all without the need for heavy plugins or complex theme changes. But while dashicons are lightweight, a slow or unreliable hosting provider can still drag down your site’s performance, no matter how optimized it is.

To ensure your site is running at its best, it’s necessary to choose the right hosting provider. Liquid Web’s managed WordPress hosting is designed with performance and reliability in mind. With features like automatic updates, high-speed performance optimizations, and 24/7 expert support, you can focus on creating your dream site without worrying about downtime or lag.

Here’s what you get with Liquid Web managed hosting:

Blazing-fast speeds: Optimized for WordPress to ensure quick loading times, even for media-heavy or highly customized sites.
Built-in security: Proactive monitoring and protection to keep your site secure.
Developer-friendly tools: Staging environments, SSH access, and more for advanced customization.
Smooth scaling: Handle traffic spikes effortlessly with infrastructure built for growth.

Ready to take your WordPress site to the next level? Explore Liquid Web’s hosting plans for WordPress now and ensure your site performs at its best – secure, fast, and ready to grow!

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WordPress dashicons FAQs

How do you add dashicons to WordPress?

Dashicons are built into WordPress and are automatically loaded in the admin dashboard. However, to use them on your site’s front-end, you’ll need to enqueue the dashicons stylesheet manually by adding this code to your functions.php file:

function load_dashicons_front-end() {
    wp_enqueue_style('dashicons');
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'load_dashicons_front-end');

Once added, you can reference dashicons using their respective classes in your HTML.

How do you create a new dashicon in WordPress?

WordPress occasionally adds its own new dashicons with new version releases, but it currently doesn’t support creating new dashicons directly within its ecosystem. However, you can add custom icons using third-party font libraries like Font Awesome or by creating SVGs and integrating them into your child theme or plugin.

If you want a truly custom dashicon experience, here’s a general workflow:

Design your icon: Use a vector graphics tool like Adobe Illustrator or Figma to create an SVG icon.
Add the SVG to your theme: Place your SVG in your child theme’s directory and reference it in your HTML or PHP files.
Style your icon: Use CSS to size and position your custom icon.

How do you remove dashicons?

If you’re not using dashicons on your front-end and want to optimize performance by preventing them from loading, you can dequeue the dashicons stylesheet. Add the following code to your functions.php file:

function remove_dashicons_front-end() {
    if (!is_admin()) {
        wp_dequeue_style('dashicons');
    }
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'remove_dashicons_front-end');

This ensures dashicons are only loaded in the admin dashboard and not unnecessarily on your site’s front-end.

What are dashicons best used for?

Dashicons are most commonly used to:

Enhance the WordPress admin dashboard.
Add icons to navigation menus for better usability.
Style custom post types in the backend.
Add lightweight icons to the front-end without relying on external libraries.

Are dashicons mobile-friendly?

Yes! Dashicons are fully scalable because they’re font-based. This means they look crisp and clear on all screen sizes, from desktops to smartphones. To ensure optimal performance, test your icons on different devices and tweak their size and positioning as needed using CSS.

Can dashicons be used in Gutenberg or page builders?

Absolutely! Dashicons can be used in custom blocks, widgets, or elements created with Gutenberg or other page builders like Elementor. You can simply reference their CSS classes or use them in combination with custom HTML to make your layouts more interactive and visually appealing.