Your bio is an essential part of your profile on Instagram. Although it's limited to 150 characters, it's one of the three things other Instagram users should look at to gauge whether they want to follow you or not. Of course, the other two things are your username and your most recent selection of posts and stories.
A common technique used to increase the visual appeal of your bio and make it "pop" is to center bio text. Centering text means inserting spaces on each line so that the overall effect is to make your biography centered on the screen when someone is looking at it.
Word processing programs like Microsoft Word include auto-centering features that allow you to select a block of text and press a button, and poof, it's instantly centered. Instagram, unfortunately, does not have this feature. However, centering your bio is quite simple, and in this article, you will see a simple technique to display your bio where you want it.
Instagram bio character limit
While typing your biography on an iPhone or Android device, a handy feature is the character count that displays in the lower right corner of the text box. The count shows you how many characters are left in your allocation of 150.
The PC version doesn't seem to include a character count feature.
Spaces count towards the character limit, including unbound spaces– more on that later.
Yes, spaces used to format your text count towards the 150 character limit.
Use non-binding spaces to position or center your biography
In the Instagram Bio text box, you'll want to add spaces to the left of each line of text that you want to center or position differently. If your text strings are relatively short, adding about nine spaces to the left of each line will place your text near the center of the screen on most phones. You will want to add more or less space depending on whether your text strings are longer or shorter. However, you will encounter a problem. Instagram insists on left-justifying every line of your bio. This means that each line starts with the first visible character, no spaces.
The only way to get your Instagram Bio lines centered or to appear where you want them to is with non-binding spaces. There is no need to go into technical details, but these gaps are essentially coded differently in HTML and will allow you to work around the line problem in Instagram's code.
Non-binding spaces prevent spaces and two-part text such as "liquid-based" and "T&T discs", for example, from separating in the current line and the next line, but they do serve as spacers in this particular case.
Non-binding spaces used for copy/paste functionality in your Instagram bio cannot be created in any text app, note taker or document creator. Of course, MS Word and Google Docs have a way to insert non-binding/non-breaking spaces, but that won't work for your Bio unless you copy it from HTML, which uses ' ' (out of quotes) like coded. Don't bother viewing the source code or using the "inspect element" to see the "" characters. They often appear as empty spaces, ironically.
Either way, editing your Instagram bio is simple. Using a PC is preferable so that you can easily copy/paste the non-breaking spaces. However, this is also possible on Android and iPhone because we have incorporated the non-breaking spaces in the steps below, so that your smartphone or tablet can easily copy them too. Either way, with just a few clicks or taps, you can position your bio the way you want, including centering it. Here's how.
Center/position your Instagram bio in Windows
- Open your browser and head to the Instagram login page. If you are already logged in, the website will go directly to your account. Otherwise, enter your login credentials.
- Click on your "Profile" icon in the top right section of the page.
- Select "Profile" from the list.
- Click on “Edit profile. »
- Copy only the spaces on this line (as many as you need) that are between the following square brackets: [⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀]
- In the " Organic " box, paste the non-binding/non-breaking spaces copied into your Bio, then type in what you want to appear.
- Scroll down the page and click " TP submit. »
- Head over to your Instagram profile page to see the results. It may take several tries to get the look you want.
Center/reposition your Instagram bio on Android and iOS/iPhone
- Launch the Android Instagram app or Instagram app for iOS.
- Press your "Profile" icon in the lower right section.
- Press “Edit profile. »
- Press the " Organic " section.
- The edit bio screen appears.
- Copy only the spaces on this line (as many as you need) that are between the following square brackets: [⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀]
- Edit your bio by pasting the non-binding spaces before your text so that it centers or repositions it on the line. Press the « blue car » in the top right section to save your changes.
Other Types of Instagram Bio Effects
Centering isn't the only type of text formatting that can give your bio some visual flair. For example, you can offset your biography by increasing the indent on each successive line. For example:
Good example:
Bad example:
Note that the second example was less fluid because the last line was too short. Also, it doesn't highlight contact information in the same way that a centered biography would.
Think about what you want your subscribers and potential subscribers to take away from your bio, how your bio reads, and what information you want to highlight.
When not to center a biography
Sometimes your profile is better served by not having a centered bio, which has drawbacks, including:
- Lack of space for characters. Bios have a 150 character limit and spaces count towards that limit.
- Bad view of the desk. Centered bios aren't as effective on the desktop. Of course, most people will check Instagram on their phone.
- The centered bios separates the text. If your biography is made up of short statements, it might not matter to you. It can also be useful for highlighting disparate items like email addresses. However, if you interrupt the flow of your bio, forcing it into separate lines, it can feel awkward and hard to read.
Overall, centering or shifting your bio on Instagram can really help make your profile stand out in the crowd. Whether you're looking to show off your contact information or want to make your bio more interesting, centering and shifting text on Instagram is surprisingly easy.
