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How to Fix Common Font Awesome Menu Icon Problems in WordPress

21 threads Sep 17, 2025 Plugin → Font awesome

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Adding Font Awesome icons to your WordPress navigation menu can dramatically improve its look and usability. However, users often encounter a few common issues that can make the implementation frustrating. Based on community support threads, this guide covers the most frequent problems and their solutions.

Common Problem 1: Icons and Text on Separate Lines

The Problem: Your icon appears above your menu text instead of beside it.

Why It Happens: This is typically caused by a CSS display property issue. The icon element might be set to display: block;, which forces it onto its own line.

The Solution: Target the icon within your menu and change its display property. Add the following CSS to your theme's Customizer or style.css file:

.your-menu-class .fa {
    display: inline !important;
}

Replace .your-menu-class with the actual class or ID of your menu.

Common Problem 2: Incorrect Font or Text Transformation

The Problem: After adding an icon, your menu text changes to uppercase or a different font.

Why It Happens: The Font Awesome CSS, which includes a text-transform: uppercase; rule for some elements, might be inheriting and applying to your menu text.

The Solution: Explicitly set the text transformation and font family for your menu items. Use CSS like this:

.your-menu-class a {
    text-transform: none !important;
    font-family: 'Your Preferred Font', sans-serif !important;
}

Common Problem 3: No Space Between Icon and Text

The Problem: The icon is too close to the menu text, making it look cramped.

Why It Happens: By default, there is no automatic spacing added between an icon and the text next to it.

The Solution: Add a right margin to the icon to create space. This CSS will push the text away from the icon:

.your-menu-class .fa {
    margin-right: 10px; /* Adjust the value as needed */
}

Common Problem 4: Icon Not Clickable

The Problem: The icon itself does not function as a clickable link, only the text does.

Why It Happens: This occurs when the icon is placed outside of the <a> tag that wraps the menu item link.

The Solution: Ensure the icon is placed inside the link. If you are adding the icon via a CSS class in the menu settings, the plugin should handle this. If you are manually adding HTML, structure it like this:

<a href="#"><i class="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a>

Common Problem 5: Icon Not Centered or Sized Incorrectly

The Problem: You want to center an icon above your menu text or change its size, but standard CSS isn't working.

Why It Happens: Icons are inline elements, so text-align: center needs to be applied to their container, not the icon itself. Sizing can be affected by other CSS rules.

The Solution:

  • For Centering: Wrap your icon and text in a container div and center that. 
    <div style="text-align: center;">
    <i class="fas fa-heart"></i><br>
    Menu Text
</div>
  • For Sizing: Use Font Awesome's built-in size classes directly on the icon. 
    <i class="fas fa-heart fa-2x"></i>

General Best Practices

  • Use the Correct Method: The recommended way to add icons is by entering the icon's CSS class (e.g., fas fa-home) in the "CSS Classes" field for the specific menu item in Appearance > Menus.
  • Check for Conflicts: If you have other icon or menu plugins installed, try disabling them to see if they are causing a conflict.
  • Inspect Elements: Use your browser's developer tools (F12) to inspect the menu item. This will show you exactly what CSS is being applied and help you craft more specific override rules.

By following these troubleshooting steps, you should be able to resolve the most common issues with integrating Font Awesome icons into your WordPress menus. For more detailed usage, you can refer to the official Font Awesome documentation.

Related Support Threads Support