What is a Child Theme and how to create it

WordPress is involved in the creation of a website currently the most popular, however, just beginners are always encountering unexpected obstacles. Even better, many are simply not familiar with the terms for certain details. This then also affects themes and child Theme.

child theme

What is a Theme and a Child Theme

To help beginners find their way around, here is the complete explanation. Of course short, so that also advanced students will get their money's worth. A theme is a design template that is available for free. Currently WorldPress offers the theme Twentyfifteen for free, this can also be called a standard theme. Of course there are other themes, which every website operator can choose freely from the Internet. But this applies to more advanced users. The standard theme is a so-called responsive theme. This means that it is also constantly changed or improved. Exactly here a child theme can be important, because this is simply the child of a theme. The original theme is then the parent theme, which is usually not affected by the change. So the original theme is always available, which is a security in case you don't like the child theme or the change doesn't work out well. Responsive is important here so that the theme always adapts to the respective computer. So there is no need for the user to change any settings, the theme can simply be adopted. Because changes require some knowledge, which many users do not really have. These refer to CSS, HTML and PHP, which are then for most but rather unknown terms.

Without any previous knowledge in WordPress it works nevertheless

Although the opposite is claimed again and again on various websites, it is possible to do so without any previous knowledge. After all, WordPress advertises with it, but of course someone must first know how to do this. Of course, this is then about the CSS file, which is called style.css in WordPress. This can then be edited in an editor. On Mac this is for example Textmate, on Windows Notepad and Coda, also on Mac. However, always create a Childtheme before, so that the parent theme remains in its original state. This way, mistakes can easily be made, because the original is always available. This is especially important for beginners in this area and a kind of security in case of an emergency.

But the Childtheme has another advantage, because only the Parenttheme will be changed when the developer updates. Your own changes or adjustments are not affected by this, which would not be the case otherwise. In addition, a folder with the Childthemes is created, so that they are always stored safely. In addition, for certain steps, an FTP program is required to access your own server directly. This is not possible in WordPress, but the access data are necessary. These can be obtained from the provider, just as the FTP program must be available.

There are two programs, one is FileZilla, which is available for free and then there is Transmit from Panic. Additionally a text editor is needed, but this is not possible with Word, because it is not possible here. For example Boxer text editor would be a good choice. This is only one of many that can be easily found on the Internet. A list can be found in Wikipedia, for example, which are also sorted by operating system.

First create the folder for Childtheme

This is the first step, which is then also one of the most important steps. To do this, create wp-content/themes in the directory wp-content/themes, which is on the same level as the parent theme. Now this folder can be given a name that everyone can choose for themselves. It is important that there are no umlauts or spaces in the name. Now the empty folder will be filled with a style.css file, which can be created with the FTP program. The same is possible on your own computer, but then you have to upload it. This can then be done via FTP again.

However, some codes must be entered in this file, otherwise WordPress will not recognize this file as FTP. This could be for example /* theme names: My own file tags: /*. This is just an example, it could be my first try, or the name of the author. So what someone finds important. It is also important that the last line always contains the path of the parent theme. After that the parent theme has to be linked to the Childtheme can be linked. This file then has the name functions.php. Do not copy it from the parent theme, but create a new PHP. In this file the stylesheet of the childtheme will be included. So the childtheme will be loaded after the parent theme, that is this style.css.

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