The document discusses WordPress child themes, which inherit functionality and styling from parent themes, highlighting their advantages, such as safety, speed, and ease of use. It outlines the creation process, including setting up the child theme directory and necessary files like style.css and functions.php. The document concludes with resources for further learning and encouragement for developers to adopt child themes.

1. Anthony Hortin
@maddisondesigns
The
Why, When, How
of WordPress
Child Themes
#WPMELBUser Meetup

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What is a Child Theme?

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A child theme is a theme that
inherits the functionality and
styling of another theme (called
the parent theme). Child themes
are the recommended way of
modifying an existing theme.
“
*https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes

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Why use a Child theme?

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It’s Safer
If you modify a theme’s CSS or HTML directly and it gets updated,
you’ll lose all your modifications.

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It’s Quicker
Using a Child Theme can speed up your development time.

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It’s Easier
If the Parent Theme is developed properly, using a Child Theme
can make it easier to override functionality.

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When should you use a
Child Theme?

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Almost Always
If you buy a theme from a Theme Shop or even
download a free one from WordPress.org,
you should consider setting up a Child Theme.

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How do you create a
Child Theme?

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Creating a Child Theme
A Child Theme consists of the Child Theme directory,
and two files (style.css and functions.php)

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Create a Child Theme Folder
Step 1: Create your Child Theme directory in wp-content/themes

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Creating a Child Theme Stylesheet
Step 2: Create your Child Theme's stylesheet (style.css)

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Creating a Child Theme Stylesheet
Your Child Theme's style.css file should include:
/*
Theme Name: Your Child Theme Name
Theme URI: http://example.com/my-awesome-child-theme
Description: A description for your Child Theme
Author: Your name
Author URI: http://example.com
Template: parent-theme-folder-name
Version: 1.0.0
*/
* The Template line corresponds to the directory name of the Parent Theme.
e.g. If you were using Twenty Sixteen as the Parent Theme, you would
enter ‘twentysixteen' here (without the quotes)

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Creating a Child Theme’s Functions
Step 3: Create your Child Theme's functions file (functions.php)

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Creating a Child Theme’s Functions
Your Child Theme's functions.php file should include:
<?php
function mytheme_scripts_styles() {
// Enqueue the parent theme stylesheet
wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', trailingslashit( get_template_directory_uri() ) . 'style.css' );
// Ensure the default WordPress stylesheet is enqueued after the parent stylesheet
wp_enqueue_style( 'style', get_stylesheet_uri(), array( 'parent-style' ) );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'mytheme_scripts_styles' );

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Activating your Child Theme
Step 4: Login to your Dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes
and activate your Child Theme

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High Five!
Step 5: Pat yourself on the back & have
a cuppa because you’ve just created
your first Child Theme!

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Creating a Child Theme’s Screenshot
Optional Step: Create a .png image (screenshot.png) to display a
screenshot on the Themes page in the Dashboard.
The image should be 1200 x 900px.

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WordPress Codex
https://codex.wordpress.org
Child Themes on the WordPress Codex
https://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
Official WordPress Theme Directory
https://wordpress.org/themes
Example Child Theme Code
http://maddisondesigns.com/child-theme-example
Links to Remember

21. I’m Anthony Hortin
You can find me here
@maddisondesigns
maddisondesigns.com
@easywpguide
easywpguide.com
Thanks!
Questions?