Speaker: Evan Mullins
Twitter: @circlecube
Speaker slides: circlecube.com/wordpress
Learn how to mod themes the right way. Using child themes you won’t lose your edits when there’s a theme update
Child Themes 101
- your theme is your brand, design & identity
- http://codex.wordpress.org/themes
- Analogies: WordPress is the bones and muscles: the theme is the “skin”. Or if you think of your website as if you’re building a house: WordPress is the foundation and frame and the theme is the paint, curtains and flooring.
- Fun stuff: TheUselessWeb.com & GenerateWP.com
- Types of themes – just because you’re paying…doesn’t mean it’s better
- custom
- free
- premium
- customized
- starter
- framework
- parent
- child
- Framework – the admin functionality such as support for sliders, custom posts, etc.
- child themes – inherit characteristics of the parent theme
- when the parent theme is updated your modifications are preserved
- it’s a head start, for items that you use on a regular basis.
- don’t edit core files!
- parent theme styles aren’t automatically pulled into child
- How to create a child theme?
- install parent theme
- make your child theme folder in the themes directory
- add your style.css — wordpress requires in order to recognize the theme
- copy parent functions.php (may not be necessary)
- add your meta — use meta example “Template: twentytwelve”
- plugin “Child Themify”
Child Themes 102
- reasons to child-theme
- add widget areas
- custom post types
- custom taxonomies
- responsive
- rebrand
- In the future, all themes may be required to facilitate a child theme
- Popular Parent Themes
- twenty somethings
- thematic
- genesis
- hybrid
- underscores
- require foundation
- starkers
- Twentytwelve – responsive out of the box
- Theme template hierarchy – which template file(s) will WordPress use when it displays a certain type of page? (lookup diagram)