This document discusses WordPress themes and child themes. It begins by defining what a theme is and what themes do. It then explains what components make up a theme. The document recommends choosing a theme based on UI/UX rather than functionality so that functionality can be added and retained through plugins. It defines what a child theme is and how it allows customizing a parent theme while keeping customizations separate. The document provides instructions for manually creating a child theme and using a plugin. It discusses best practices for working with child themes such as overriding parent templates.

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WordPress Parent Themes &
Child Themes
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What to expect…
• What are Themes?
• What do they do?
• What makes a theme?
• Choosing a theme!
• Child themes!
• Do I need one?
• How can I get one?

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What is a WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme defines the design and layout of your
website’s front-end, what a visitor sees when they visit your
site.

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What themes do?
Defines the UI and UX.
- Responsive or Static
- If Responsive, Defines the layout on different
devices.
- Defines number of columns (1, 2 or 3)
- Defines what content shows where & How!

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What makes a theme?
REQUIRED
index.php – the
main template file
style.css – the main
style file
ADDITIONAL
Template files
Localization files
CSS files
Graphics
JavaScript
Text files

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Choosing a theme
UI/UX over functionality.
Why?
Add functionality using
plugins so that when you
change your theme, you
retain your website's
functionality.

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Child Themes
A child theme inherits the
functionality and styling of
another theme.
- Allows you to change small aspects of your site’s
appearance while preserving your theme’s look and
functionality.
- Your customizations are kept separate from the parent
theme’s files allowing you to upgrade the parent theme
without affecting the customizations you’ve made to
your site.
- Save on development time since you are not
reinventing the wheel
- Are a great way to start learning about theme
development
What?
When?
Why?
• "I wish my site could..."
• "I hate how this page/post is arranged"
• "I wish that section wasn't here"
• "I don't need this section"

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Creating a Child Theme
Manually Using a Plugin

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Creating a Child Theme Manually
1. Create a Folder
2. Name it parent theme's name
+ "- child" at the end
3. Create style.css and
functions.php

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Child Theme’s style.css
Required Info
Theme Name – needs to be unique to your theme
Template – the name of the parent theme directory.

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Child Theme’s function.php
• Necessary to enqueue styles and scripts. • Adding Any custom php to your theme.

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Enqueueing the Child Themes style.css
Ensures it loads after the parent theme's stylesheet

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Creating Child Theme Using a Plugin
Suggested plugin: Child Theme Configurator
Installation:
Go to “Plugins > Add New.”
Type “child theme” in the “Search” box and click
Locate “Child Theme Configurator”, click “Install Now"
then "Activate"
Navigate to Tools > Child Themes (multisite users go to
Network Admin > Themes > Child Themes).

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Creating Child Theme with Plugin

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Pros of Using a Plugin
• Automatically determines the correct way to set up a child
theme based on the theme you are using.
• Finds the exact style selectors your theme uses and change
properties quickly.
• Copy existing widgets, menus and Customizer options to
child theme
• Automatically enqueues stylesheets

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Installing & Activating a Child Theme

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Editing & Overriding
Parent Theme Templates
Copy the file from parent theme
folder and paste exactly in the
same location inside the child
theme.
Creating Custom
Template Files
Create the template file inside
the Child theme directory

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Key Pointers
• Parent Theme is Still Master
• - Any changes made on the Child Theme doesn't
affect the Parent Theme, but changes made on
Parent Theme will be visible on you website even
if child theme is active.
• Watch Out for Updates
• Overridden files won't update automatically. You'll
have to update them manually.
• Enqueue/Reference any new files/scripts
• WordPress won’t automatically load stylesheets,
scripts and other files for your child theme on the
front-end. To do that you'll have to reference the
location using the wordpress
get_stylesheet_directory and wp_enqueue
functions where you need them loaded.
• Child Copies Master
• A child theme inherits post formats as defined by
the parent theme.
• Do You Really Need a Child Theme?
• If the changes you are making will only affect the
CSS and you are not altering any html or php code
of the theme, it’s better to use just a custom CSS
plugin, that is if your theme doesn't have an option
to include Custom CSS.
• Why Not Just Create you own Theme?
• If you are making extensive customizations –
beyond styles and a few theme files – creating a
parent theme might be a better option than a child
theme. Creating a parent theme allows you to
avoid issues with deprecated code in the future.
This needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

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Thank You