What is a WordPress Child Theme
A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits its functionality from another theme, known as the parent theme. Child themes are often used when you want to make customizations to your website but don't want to lose those changes when the parent theme is updated.
By creating a child theme and making your customizations in the child theme, you can ensure that your changes are preserved even if the parent theme is updated. This can be especially useful if you are using a premium theme that receives regular updates, as you can continue to receive those updates while still maintaining your customizations.
To create a child theme, you will need to create a new folder in the wp-content/themes
directory and include a style.css
file and a functions.php
file. In the style.css
file, you will need to include a reference to the parent theme and any custom styles that you want to add. In the functions.php
file, you can add any custom functions that you want to use in your child theme.
To include a reference to the parent theme in a WordPress child theme, you will need to include a special comment at the top of the child theme's style.css
file. This comment should include the following information:
/*
Theme Name: My Child Theme
Template: parent-theme-name
*/
Replace parent-theme-name with the name of the parent theme that you want to use. This will tell WordPress to use the parent theme's styles as a starting point for the child theme, and will allow you to override those styles as needed.
You can then include any custom styles that you want to add to the child theme below this comment. These styles will be applied after the styles from the parent theme, so they will take precedence and allow you to customize the look and feel of your website.
For example, if you want to change the color of all links in the child theme to red, you could include the following in the child theme's style.css file:
a {
color: red;
}
This would override the default link color set in the parent theme, and apply a red color to all links in the child theme.
Overall, including a reference to the parent theme in a WordPress child theme allows you to customize the look and feel of your website while still taking advantage of the functionality and features provided by the parent theme.
Using a child theme can be a great way to customize your WordPress website without losing those customizations when the parent theme is updated.