How to tweak Mediumish theme appearance for better branding

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Why tweak Mediumish

A cloned Mediumish theme gives you a solid, minimalist starting point that looks modern out of the box. However, default themes are intentionally generic. Tweaking colors fonts and the layout helps your blog reflect your brand voice improve readability and make a memorable first impression. Small changes often deliver disproportionate benefits: clearer headings better contrast and consistent typography instantly feel more professional.

Planning your branding

Before editing files you need a short plan. Good planning saves time and avoids rollback loops. Keep the plan small and actionable: pick one primary color one accent color and two fonts one for headings and one for body text. Decide if you want a constrained content width or a wider reading column. Note any content types that need custom styles such as code blocks quotes or featured images.

Choosing a color palette

A functional palette has three roles: brand color for emphasis interactive color for links and buttons and neutral tones for backgrounds and text. Prioritize contrast for body text and links to keep accessibility good. Test palette choices on the actual site mockup rather than relying solely on swatches.

Selecting typography

Typography choices affect perceived tone. Sans serif conveys modern and clean while serif may feel classic or editorial. For readability pick a size between 16 and 18 pixels for body text use a line-height around 1.5 and limit the number of typeface families to two. Always include system font fallbacks for speed and reliability.

Safe workflow for a cloned theme

Work safely by creating a local branch or a copy of the theme files before changing anything. If you use GitHub Pages or a similar hosting platform keep changes in a branch and preview them before merging to the production branch. If the cloned theme has a build step note where the compiled CSS is generated and modify source files not compiled output. Keep a short changelog with a list of edited files and CSS variables you updated.

Practical CSS changes

This section focuses on actionable edits you can perform quickly. Most Mediumish clones use a single stylesheet or a small set of modular styles. Target high impact areas first: CSS variables colors fonts and container sizes.

Using CSS variables

If the theme already uses CSS variables you can centralize your changes in one place. If not you can add a :root block at the top of the main stylesheet and reference the variables throughout the CSS. This approach makes future brand updates trivial because values are changed in one file.

Example CSS variables to add 
:root {
  --brand-primary: #2b6cb0;
  --brand-accent: #f6ad55;
  --text-main: #222222;
  --text-muted: #6b7280;
  --bg-page: #ffffff;
  --max-width: 760px;
  --base-font-size: 16px;
  --heading-font: "Inter", system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial;
  --body-font: "Source Sans Pro", system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial;
}

Changing colors

Swap colors by updating the variables above or by editing the specific color rules used for links buttons and headings. Target these selectors first:

  • a, a:visited
  • button and .btn classes
  • .site-header .brand or .logo
  • article headings and blockquote borders

Use the mix-blend-mode cautiously and avoid low contrast text on busy backgrounds. For interactive elements add subtle hover states like a darker shade on hover or a gentle transform scale to improve perceived responsiveness.

Quick color mapping table

Intent Variable Example use
Primary brand --brand-primary CTA buttons link accents
Accent --brand-accent Badges highlighted text
Body text --text-main Paragraphs and captions
Muted text --text-muted Meta dates author names

Font setup and fallbacks

Use a reliable CDN for web fonts or self host the fonts if you prefer privacy and speed. Add font-display swap to avoid invisible text. Example import for Google Fonts looks like this in the head of the template:

Font link snippet to include

Then use the variables to apply fonts: 

body {
  font-family: var(--body-font);
  font-size: var(--base-font-size);
  line-height: 1.6;
  color: var(--text-main);
}

h2,h3,h4 {
  font-family: var(--heading-font);
  line-height: 1.2;
  margin-top: 1.2rem;
}

Layout tweaks

Layout changes yield a noticeable effect. Common layout tweaks include adjusting the content max width controlling image size alignment and changing the sidebar behavior on mobile. Use a container rule to constrain readable text width. A typical readable measure for longform content is between 60 and 75 characters per line. Translate that to max-width for your font and size.

Example container CSS 
.container {
  max-width: var(--max-width);
  margin: 0 auto;
  padding: 1.5rem;
}
.featured-image {
  max-width: 100%;
  height: auto;
  display: block;
  margin: 1rem 0;
}
@media (min-width: 980px) {
  .content + .sidebar {
    width: 300px;
  }
  .content {
    width: calc(100% - 320px);
  }
}

If the cloned theme contains utility classes adjust them sparingly to avoid breaking components that expect the original sizing. For major layout changes prefer adding new classes rather than altering the original ones so you can revert easily.

Accessibility and performance

Good design is inclusive and fast. Some quick checks:

  • Ensure text contrast meets WCAG AA minimums for body text and headings.
  • Add lang attribute to the HTML element in your template for better screen reader behavior and search engine clarity.
  • Use semantic markup for article time author and headings for screen readers and SEO.
  • Lazy load offscreen images and set width and height attributes on images to avoid layout shifts.
  • Minify CSS and combine critical CSS inline if hosting allows it to improve first contentful paint.

Testing and deploying changes

Test on several devices and browsers. Use browser devtools to emulate network throttling and a few screen sizes. Run automated checks with Lighthouse or other tools to catch accessibility or performance regressions. After testing, deploy to a staging branch and validate the final site before merging to production.

Checklist before production
  • All color changes centralized in variables
  • Fonts loaded with font-display swap
  • Images optimized and lazy loaded
  • Contrast and semantic HTML checked
  • Backup of original theme files committed

Common problems and fixes

When customizing you may encounter a few recurring issues. Below are typical problems and fast fixes.

Problem 1 slow font loading

Solution use font-display swap preconnect to font host and consider self hosting critical weights only.

Problem 2 inconsistent spacing across components

Solution create a spacing scale using CSS variables such as --space-1 --space-2 and apply consistently. Avoid overwriting component margins deeply in CSS; prefer top level spacing utilities.

Problem 3 images overflow container

Solution ensure image rules include max-width: 100% and box sizing uses border-box.

Further resources

If you want ready snippets here are a few practical extras: an accessible skip link pattern small script snippet to toggle dark mode using CSS variables and a minified responsive grid you can drop in. Keep a single small stylesheet for overrides named theme-overrides.css and import it last so it naturally wins over base styles.

Dark mode snippet using variables 
:root {
  --bg-page: #ffffff;
  --text-main: #222222;
}
[data-theme="dark"] {
  --bg-page: #0b1220;
  --text-main: #e6edf3;
}
html {
  background: var(--bg-page);
  color: var(--text-main);
}

FAQ

How do I find the right color contrast

Use online contrast checkers or browser extensions to test foreground and background pairs. Aim for at least 4.5 to 1 for body text and 3 to 1 for larger headings.

Can I change fonts without editing HTML templates

Yes if the theme includes a central stylesheet you can import fonts there or add an overrides stylesheet that includes the font link and font-family rules.

Will changing CSS hurt SEO

No CSS changes do not directly affect ranking but improved readability accessibility and mobile friendliness can indirectly help user experience signals which matter to search engines.

Is it better to use system fonts for performance

System fonts are fastest since no network request is required. If performance is a priority choose a system stack and reserve web fonts for brand critical headings.

Final note choose one or two high impact changes per release. Tweak colors or fonts first then iterate on layout. Keep a backup and test each change in staging. If you want I can create a ready to paste override stylesheet and a short list of the exact selectors to update for the specific Mediumish clone you use.

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