2. What is a Child Theme?
✤ “a theme that inherits the
functionality of another
theme, called the parent
theme, and allows you to
modify, or add to, the
functionality of that
parent theme”
3. Benefits of a Child Theme
✤ Parent theme can be updated without “screwing up” the child theme
✤ Always have a maintainable parent theme
✤ Great for Learning Wordpress!
✤ Easy to test and experiment with new CSS, JS, etc.
✤ http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
4. How to create a
child theme:
✤ create a new folder under wp-content/
themes/
✤ create a style.css file
✤ add “Template:
parent_theme_folder_name” to the
style.css
✤ import the parent theme’s stylesheet
(or not, your choice)
✤ Done!
5. Firebug is Your Friend.
www.getfirebug.com - Almost a necessity when manipulating a parent theme.
6. Other (optional) Files to Include.
✤ Functions.php - call in new functions for outside JavaScript, CSS, or
custom PHP functions (make sure not to use function names used in
the parent functions.php file)
✤ Template files (ie. template-home.php) to create new and specific
markup <html>
✤ Images folder to call in new theme images for backgrounds, etc.
✤ **Theme files come first in the hierarchy**
7. WP Greenville Meetup Site
✤ http://www.wpgvl.org/
✤ Download the child theme! https://github.com/erickarbe/wpgvl-
child
✤ Shows a few basic changes via CSS and a few PHP functions
8. Why Not Create a Parent Theme?
✤ When modifying a parent theme just won’t do. You might need:
✤ more/different functionality, a faster website, different design,
responsive design, parent theme loads unwanted JS
✤ Where to start? Starter themes - are they necessary? It depends!
✤ Client needs / Time Frame / Website Functionality
✤ https://github.com/Automattic/_s
✤ http://themehybrid.com/hybrid-core
9. Further Resources
✤ http://themehybrid.com/ - High quality themes, rock solid framework (Hybrid Core) -
my personal favorite
✤ http://starkerstheme.com/ - Very blank WP theme, based on Twenty Ten theme
✤ http://themeshaper.com/thematic/ - Built by Automattic
✤ http://wptheming.com/options-framework-plugin/ (http://wptheming.com/
options-framework-theme/) - An easy way to add a custom options panel
✤ http://html5boilerplate.com/
✤ And TONS more on www.google.com...
