How to create a child theme?

Creating a child theme is most important part of developing a WordPress site. It protects a site from probability of breaking up at the time of theme up-gradation. If you are happy with whatever features provided in the theme and never try to be a bit adventures with changing theme files, then this tip is not for you – but if you ever touch even a single line of code in the theme file, then this method is a must.

Resource:

Your preferred WordPress theme.

Procedure:

There are a number of free & premium plugins available which helps creating child theme, but what I am going to share, is the bare minimum requirement and most easy one. I am using Extra theme from Elegant Themes. It is a nice looking simple theme. I have created the child theme for it as following:

I created a directory in named extra-child in themes directory under wp-content directory. Then created a file named style.css in it which contains the following lines:

/*
Theme Name: Extra Child Theme
Theme URI: https://elegantthemes.com/
Description: Extra Child Theme
Author: Elegant Themes
Author URI: https://www.comcomsol.in/
Template: Extra
Version: 1.0.0
*/

@import url(“../extra/style.css”);

/* =Theme customization starts here
——————————————————- */

The information provided in Theme Name, Theme URI, Description and Author are optional. Now in wordpress admin panel, theme area you will find another theme named Extra Child Theme. Activate it, and you are safe against any theme updation.

If you are lazy enough (just like me) to do all the above mentioned steps, there is a easy way out – provided you are using Divi or Extra from Elegant Themes. Visit the link here. You have to select the theme (Divi or Extra) and put some basic information. You will be able to download a basic child theme. Install downloaded child theme the usual way.

The theme files you want to modify, must be copied from original theme directory to the child theme directory. You shall be able to change the files in the child theme directory without the fear of breaking the site.