Need help re-activating child theme

Hello Again

I should mention that I installed Child Theme Configurator after making quite a few CSS changes using CSS-Hero and Divi theme’s Custom CSS box.

Is it too late for protection from losing customizations from theme updates if I installed a child theme after the CSS customizations? Mostly I think not, but I just want to be sure.

Thanks,
Gail

Gail,

There is a lot going on here so lets address one thing at a time.

1. If you cannot activate the child theme, check it to verify that it says “Child theme of Divi.” If not, then you may have set the parent theme to one of the other themes that you deleted earlier. WordPress throws an error when you try to activate a child theme of a theme that does not exist.

If this is the case, go to the CTC parent/child tab, select Divi as the parent theme, Divi-child as the child theme.

If you have not set any options for the child theme but have options for the parent theme you want to keep, check the box labeled “Copy Parent Theme Menus, Widgets and other Customizer Options.”

Click “Generate/Rebuild Child Theme Files.” You will then be able to activate the child theme.

2. There are three main types of customizations.

a) Menus, Widgets and Customizer options are all specific to the theme and are stored in the database options separately from the theme itself. When you update the theme, these will still be there afterwards.

b) Plugins – These are stored and execute independently of the theme and do not change when a theme is updated.

c) Any edits to parent theme php and css files will be overwritten when the theme is updated. These are the changes that should be made in a child theme.

Please see https://www.childthemeconfigurator.com/how-to-use/ and https://www.childthemeconfigurator.com/how-child-themes-work/ for more information about using CTC.

Hello,

So sorry it has taken so long to reply. I initially replied by email then finally found I can’t do that so here I am.

The information you gave me in How Child Themes Work gave me the clue to what was wrong. I didn’t realize only the child theme should be active. My Divi theme was the one that was active. So I reinstalled Twenty Fifteen, enabled it then enabled Divi child and that did it.

I don’t know how my child theme got deactivated. I know I had been using it since I installed your plugin. I could see it named a the active theme when I’d use my theme customizer. Maybe I deactivated it when I deactivated my old themes. Anyway it’s working now and thank you for the info!

I wonder if you could answer a dumb newbie question. I made changes to my Divi theme using CSS-Hero and Divi’s own Custom CSS field. As you know, they are both supposed to prevent problems with theme updates.

Still, I decided to create a child theme just in case. Is my child theme still protected from theme updates even if it was installed after the CSS code was used?

It makes sense to me that it would be, but it would give me peace of mind if you could confirm it.

Thank you,
Gai

O.K. In non-tech speak, I’m going to take that as a yes, my child theme is safe during theme updates. If not and I’m misunderstanding, please let me know. Thank you.