WortdPress Child themes: Why and How
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The slides from my talk at WordCamp Torornto 30 Sept 2012
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- Daughter Themes (aka: Child-Themes)And why you need to know
about them
- Why AndHo
- No theme will fit all sites
- You cant apply an update to atheme without losing
yourchanges
- Creating whole themes is hard
- Daughter themes are easy
- You can use framework themes to save effort
- You can brand a theme for your client
- The code needed/*Theme Name: You Company Theme.Theme URI:
http://bearne.caAuthor: Paul BearneTemplate: twentyelevenAuthor
URI: http://bearne.ca/Description: This is the special theme I
created just for your companyswebsite.Version: 1.0License: GNU
General Public LicenseLicense URI: license.txtTags: dark, light,
white, black, gray, one-column, two-columns,
left-sidebar,right-sidebar, fixed-width, flexible-width,
custom-background, custom-colors,custom-header, custom-menu,
editor-style, featured-image-header, featured-images,
full-width-template, microformats, post-formats,
rtl-language-support,sticky-post, theme-options,
translation-ready*/@import url(../twentyeleven/style.css);
- How to install it Save as style.css In a new folder called
"theme-name" ... for example: " YourCompanyTheme" Create a zip of
the folder - newTheme.zip (this zip needs a subfolder with the
style.css in it ) Upload it
- Or FTP it Upload it to the Themes folder in a new folder which
follows to show the theme folder as: YourCompanyTheme
- Add a thumbnail Upload an image screenshot.png
- Replacing template files Copy just the files from parent theme
that you need to change to you daughter folder and edit them.
WordPress looks in the daughter folder first and loads the file if
found
- functions.php WordPress will load BOTH function.php files child
function.php then the parent function.php So you only need to add
the extra/replacement functions Example:
- Template HierarchyIf your blog is at http://example.com/blog/
and a visitor clicks on a link to a category page like
http://example.com/blog/category/your-cat/WordPress looks for a
template file in the current Themes directory that matches the
categorys ID. If the categorys ID is 4, WordPress looks for a
template file named category-4.php. If it is missing, WordPress
next looks for a generic category template file, category.php. If
this file does not exist either, WordPress looks for a generic
archive template, archive.php. If it is missing as well, WordPress
falls back on the main Theme template file, index.php.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy
- Notes You cant have a child of a child (1 layer only) There is
a very small performance hit
- Some links http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes
http://themeshaper.com/modify-wordpress- themes/
http://wpfirstaid.com/2011/04/wordpress-child- themes/
http://themeshaper.com/modify-wordpress- themes/ @pbearne