Speeding up Site Development with Parent and Child Themes
by Ryan Imel on Jan 10, 2010
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Developing WordPress themes is how many of us make a living. But are we doing it as efficiently as possible? ...
Developing WordPress themes is how many of us make a living. But are we doing it as efficiently as possible?
This presentation is an introduction to parent and child theme relationships, how to use them to speed up development time, and how to develop a strong parent theme as a framework for future development.
Video of the presentation and other notes can be found on my site: http://aspiringindie.com/2010/01/10/wordcamp-atlanta-presentation/
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Pass along tips I’ve come across
Everything will be added online
Name, full time web and WordPress developer, self employed, some 5 years, built a few hundred themes
Blogged about WordPress at Theme Playground and WPCandy
For three reasons: one because I like when developers rate themselves, two because i want to be open about what I know and don’t, and three because I want to point out that anybody can do this, you don’t have to know a lot about PHP
Allows us to use the same content, same CMS, but create wildly different designs
Not something I like to do, but for a friend’s site
Only way is to jump into the code...
Creates a problem: for any upgrades it will break. Upgrades for security reasons, for new versions of WordPress, or for new features
If you’re anything like me, this is probably how you’ve build themes. At least this is how I have
Child themes can have child themes.
Built to be flexible and act as a frame for multiple sites.
Kind of unique, includes a PSD as well
There are many others out there, these are just a few ones I’ve played with
Why not benefit from their genius and their hard work
Odds are yours won’t be as robust or as strong as others when you start, but that’s okay.
Benefits: it will grow as you grow, you’ll know it very very well, your decisions about what is added or taken out
Not “left”, but “primary” Not “right” but “secondary”, not “link-blue”, but “important” or “highlight”
Also will make it so that you can have a framework that is very flexible.
Time yourself. When I implemented this into my workflow, I cut down on my development time by 50%. This is because I didn’t have to repeat steps -- HTML, PHP Templates, basic CSS, theme options, function files -- all are there for each theme I make, and I don’t have to repeat.
If you want a look at the framework I use, I’ll send it your way if you email me.