What is a child theme ? and Why it is so important ?

[Nermin]

A child theme is a theme that inherits the functionality of another theme, called the parent theme.
Child themes allows you to modify, or add to the functionality of that parent theme instead of modifying the core theme files directly.
The problem with modifying core theme files is that your changes are in danger of being overwritten if and when you update the theme to the latest version down the road.

Child themes are great for a few different reasons:

• If you modify an existing theme and it is updated, your changes will be lost. With a child theme, you can update the parent theme (which  might be important for security or functionality) and still keep your changes.
• It can speed up development time.
• It’s a great way to get started if you are just learning WordPress theme development.

Thanks

Dina

[niassa]

Can you explain how to use one and/or set one up? Or does the main install of the Theme already set this up?

[Nermin]

Hello Niassa,

You can create child theme directory, follow the steps on this Link Child Theme

and if you faced any problems please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you.

Thanks

Dina

[Nermin]

And, You do not need to setup it manually, you can switch to the child theme included in main file you downloaded from themeforest.

Thanks

Dina

[mariatav]

Hi Dina,

I have already started building a website with the Parent Theme, and changed settings in “Theme Options”. If I install the Child Theme and make that the Primary Theme, will I loose all my previous settings?

 

 

[Nermin]

Hi Mariatav,

When activate your child theme, WordPress would look to your child theme’s style.css file as the default style file, and see nothing. As a result, your theme would render with absolutely no CSS styling. Therefore, you need to call the parent theme’s CSS file within your child theme’s style.css file, with the following line of code:

@import url(“../parenttheme/style.css”)

Then save  This code in your new style.css file to your child theme’s folder.
All of your customizations stay in the child theme and don’t lose anything from your changes.

please don’t hesitate to contact us so we can help you 🙂

Thanks

Dina

[Author]

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