Over the years, WordPress has gone from being a simple blogging tool to a user-friendly Content Management System (CMS). These days, it’s pretty hard to imagine the internet without it. Thanks to the tool’s popularity, many WordPress pros now specialize in creating WordPress themes as templates for websites.
These themes provide almost all the features that site owners are looking for and thanks to the huge number of choices out there almost everybody will find a design that they like. However, for a site to truly reflect a company’s corporate design, small tweaks usually still have to be made, for example, to the code or the structure. But what happens to these changes when the theme gets updated? Well, that’s where WordPress child themes come in handy.
To make sure that you don’t lose your changes when your website theme is updated, it’s a good idea to create a WordPress child theme. A child theme inherits its appearance and functions from a main theme, which is known as – you guessed it – the parent theme. The two are linked. When you make changes in a WordPress child theme, they automatically override the relevant parts of the parent theme, but do not actually overwrite it. This means you can safely update the parent theme without losing any of your customizations.
While you’re making major changes or running updates, error messages may be displayed on your website. So that you don’t annoy your visitors, it’s best to enable the WordPress maintenance mode.
WordPress child themes can have a number of different components. The important thing is to know which files to make your changes in. There are some files that all WordPress child themes need in order to work correctly. These are:
Let’s look at why a WordPress child theme needs these three files.
A WordPress child theme will only work if you’ve created the three files listed above. The purposes of these files are as follows:
If you only want to make tiny changes to a theme, you might prefer a simpler solution, such as the Simple Custom CSS plugin or the built-in Customizer tool (WordPress version 4.7 and later).
Using a WordPress child theme has lots of advantages. Nonetheless, there are a few disadvantages too, and it’s important to be aware of these so you can decide whether it’s worth creating a child theme. This is all the more true if you only want to make a few minor changes.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Changes are not overwritten when the parent theme is updated | Updating the original template only fixes security vulnerabilities in the templates files in the parent theme folder. The vulnerabilities will therefore still be present in the template files in the WordPress child theme folder. |
| A WordPress child theme offers more flexibility than the built-in options in the WordPress backend. For example, you can customize the layout and structure of your site and add extra functions to your theme. | You may see an impact on performance, because the browser has to load two style sheets. |
| When you make extensive changes to the CSS, these are visible in the style.css file (unlike with the built-in WordPress customizer). | |
| WordPress child themes are ideal for beginners who want to learn more about WordPress, because if things go wrong, they can easily go back to the parent theme. | |
| Using a WordPress child theme can help you develop your site faster. |
HiDrive Cloud Storage with IONOS!
Based in Europe, HiDrive secures your data in the cloud so you can easily access it from any device!
Highly secureShared accessAvailable anywhereNow that we’ve seen why WordPress child themes are useful, let’s look at how to go about creating one.
Using an FTP client such as FileZilla, log in to your server and locate the following folder in your WordPress installation:
your-wordpress-installation-path/wp-content/themes/In the themes folder, create a sub-folder for your WordPress child theme. It’s best to give the folder the same name as the parent theme, but with “-child” added to the end.
Create a style.css file and use a text editor to add the following information to the header:
/*
Theme Name: [Name of parent theme] Child
Theme URI: [http://example.com/parent-theme-child/]
Description: [Name of parent theme] Child Theme
Author: [Your name]
Author URI: [URL of your website]
Template: [Name of the parent theme folder]
Version: 1.0.0
Text Domain: [Name of the parent theme]-child
*/In the example above, the parts in square brackets indicate places where you need to enter your own values. You don’t necessarily have to include all of these lines. The ones the WordPress child theme actually requires to work properly are:
Once you’ve created the file and entered the necessary information, upload it to the WordPress child theme folder via FTP.
In the ideal scenario, your parent theme will already contain an instruction for loading the style sheet of your WordPress child theme. However, not all themes do this. You, therefore, need to check how the parent theme is set up. There are three possibilities:
Here’s what the code will look like in the second of the scenarios listed above:
<?php
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_theme_enqueue_styles' );
function my_theme_enqueue_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'child-style', get_stylesheet_uri(),
array( 'Name of parent theme style sheets'),
wp_get_theme()->get('Version') // This will only work if your header contains the
Version line
);
}
?>If the WordPress child theme needs to load both style sheets via function.php, the code will be as follows:
<?php
function child_theme_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'Name of parent theme style sheets', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css');
wp_enqueue_style( 'child-theme-css', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() .'/style.css' , array('Handle
name of parent theme style sheets'));
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'child_theme_styles' );
?>Put the function.php file with the style.css file in the WordPress child theme folder.
You can also add a third file, called screenshot.png, to the WordPress child theme folder. WordPress will show this image in the themes section of the backend to make it easier for you to identify your theme.
Once you’ve created your WordPress child theme, you need to activate it in the backend just as you would with any other theme. To do this, log in and locate your child theme under “Appearance” > “Themes”.
If you’ve already made changes to the parent theme using the WordPress Customizer, these will be lost when you activate your WordPress child theme. However, using the Customizer Export/Import plugin you can export your Customizer settings and then import them again once you’re ready.
Congratulations! Your WordPress child theme is now ready to use. If you want to make changes to another templates file, first copy the file from the parent theme folder and paste it in your child theme folder. The path must match that of the parent theme. The modified file in the WordPress child theme folder will automatically override the file in the parent theme.
Why not try WordPress hosting with IONOS? You’ll get a hosting platform that’s specially optimized for WordPress, making it really easy to create your own WordPress website.
The blog software, WordPress, has many strengths, one of them being that design and layout can be separated from the program core. This allows users to customize the appearance of website content using themes without having to interfere with the actual software. Here, we explain the function of WordPress themes, their components, and their structure.
Maybe you have already heard of the WordPress framework Genesis, since the basic theme offered by the American web service StudioPress is one of the most sought-after solutions in terms of template design. The Genesis child themes are also impressive. You can refer to this guide to examine the popularity of this product and the costs associated with its use.
Do you want to have your own website, but you have hardly any programming skills? With a content management system, you can create a homepage for yourself or your company without HTML knowledge. Our WordPress guide will guide you step-by-step through the website making process, from installing and setting up WordPress, to creating content and publishing your material.
Adding Google Analytics to WordPress helps you to collect useful information about visitors to your website. This way, you can better pin down your target audience and tailor your marketing strategies to them. Here, we’ll show you how you can add Google Analytics to your WordPress website, and what you have to pay attention to in terms of data protection.
Manage a WordPress website? Then you may already be familiar with adding scripts or stylesheets to your project. In this step-by-step guide, we’ll show you how to edit a header in WordPress, what you need to consider and how you’ll find the approach that’s best for you.
To design or customize your website, you can simply add WordPress CSS code. Find out which tools you can use to edit, customize and save CSS in WordPress. The instructions in this tutorial show you how to use plugins, the Customizer and different themes and help you to apply changes quickly to achieve your desired website in no time.
Provide powerful and reliable service to your clients with a web hosting package from IONOS.
View packages