Frameworks And Child Themes

When making a child theme is it okay to just copy the existing style.css and functions.php files from the parent to the child theme folder

No, you create duplicate CSS if you copy style.css – which makes it harder to keep track of what you have changed and slows down your site. Using a browser tool like Firebug shows you the CSS for any element – you can then COPY that bit of code to the child theme and make the changes there.

If you copy the functions file – it will crash your site – so definitely don’t do that!

Theme options/settings work the same way in a child theme as a regular theme. But make those in the child theme, not the parent – as they don’t carry over from the parent.

If you are using a child theme, don’t make any changes to the parent theme.

Plugins and widgets are done the same way in a child theme – set them up in the child theme, not the parents theme.

I need to establish child themes for sites and must use a free framework. Tentatively looking at Pagelines DMS and Whiteboard. What about Gantry, and Carrington?

You don’t need a framework to use a child theme – most themes work with child themes.

I’ve not used any of the above so can’t comment on them except to say that if you use a commercial theme/framework, make sure it’s well supported by the developer – as these forums don’t support commercial products.

Thank you WPyogi for the great information.

So when using a child theme, how will I find the theme options/settings? Does the bit of code @import url("../twentythirteen/style.css"); cause the child theme to load in the dashboard when I go to https://www.domain/wp-admin?

That line imports the CSS styles from the parent. The theme options and settings are in the same place as any theme – when you activate the child theme (like any other theme – click acivate) – voila! There’s nothing to find, really.

Is this what you are referencing?

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Child_Themes

I think you are right about commercial themes and support issues. I prefer to remain in the www.ads-software.com themes but how do you avoid getting a theme that a developer abandons and becomes vulnerable without updates? Thoughts?

That line imports the CSS styles from the parent. The theme options and settings are in the same place as any theme – when you activate the child theme (like any other theme – click acivate) – voila! There’s nothing to find, really.

When you say it imports from the parent, does that mean if you already have made changes in the parent and after the fact deploy a child theme? If starting from scratch with a child theme would that line of code still be used?

Yes to the link you referenced.

There aren’t any guarantees, of course, but if you look at the longevity of the theme, number of downloads, the support forum for the theme, update history, reviews, other info about the developer (if available), that gives you some arguably relevant info.

(This isn’t to say that newer themes won’t be well supported for years to come, but that’s really all the info there is…)

There’s always WP default themes…they’ll certainly be supported for a long time to come.

A couple of really well supported and highly customizable themes you might want to check out are Suffusion and Weaver II. (There are MANY other great themes…but those for sure fit the bill IMHO.)

When you say it imports from the parent, does that mean if you already have made changes in the parent and after the fact deploy a child theme?

Yes, changes to the parent would be imported, but they’ll be overwritten when the theme is updated – so don’t do it that way. The parent theme should be unmodified when using a child theme. If you’re already in that situation, you can use a file comparison program to find your changes and move them to a child theme style.css file. Then reinstall the parent theme to get a clean copy.

BUT if you are doing something like that ALWAYS make a backup copy of the theme file first – in case you get mucked up.

If starting from scratch with a child theme would that line of code still be used?

Yes, it’s always used.

I feel like I am taking too much of your time but if you can please explain:
1. do I go to like Dreamweaver and create a new file called style.css and ftp it to the content > themes > child theme folder?
2. can you suggest a file comparison program?
3. can I google how to make a backup of the theme or is there something special I need to know?
4. I will stay with Weaver II, I use it and like it already but when I updated from Weaver I lost some pages that were not in the nav links, e.g., a resume page I made that I didn’t want anybody to view unless I sent them a link to it. How can I preserve pages like that in the future?

No problem – that’s why we’re here :).

1. Any plain text editor can be used to create the new file – if you use DW, make sure it’s saved in UNIX format/ANSII encoding and upload it in ASCII format.

2. this one is pretty cool IMHO – https://www.diffchecker.com/

3. Downloading a copy of the entire theme folder to your local computer should suffice for this. But you should also (and regularly) backup your entire site/database – see:
https://codex.www.ads-software.com/WordPress_Backups

4. That doesn’t sound like a child theme vs. parent theme issue – and so far as I know, changing from Weaver I to II was a MAJOR rewrite of the theme – so you should ask on the Weaver forums for any questions related to that. They should also be able to help you with any child theme question specific to Weaver II. Here’s fine too – but they do have great forum support from what I’ve seen/heard.

1. Any plain text editor can be used to create the new file

So I could do this in notepad? Save as .txt?

See: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Editing_Files#Using_Text_Editors

The file should be saved as style.css but in the above format.

Oaky WPyogi, thanks so much for all the great information! Really, really appreciate it. Cya.

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