how to create a child theme for Alexandria (actual instructions)

  • Resolved miketurco

    (@miketurco)


    10 years, 9 months ago

    This is exactly as suggested by the author in another thread. I’ve added a few details that might be helpful to those who don’t do this kind of thing all the time.

    1) copy the child folder to your computer

    2) edit the screenshot.png so that its easy to recognize

    3) edit style.css to rename the child theme if desired

    4) also, rename the folder from ChildTheme to something you’ll recognize

    4.a) For myself, I renamed the folder AlexandriaTurco, and renamed the theme to Alexandria Turco in the style sheet.

    5) copy the folder with the new child theme to the themes folder in wordpress

    6) Activate the child theme in WordPress

    7) Once you do this, you’re taken to the theme page. Click on the Child Theme image, then scroll down and click Save.

    8) Go to the Menus item under Appearance, select the menu you want to use and click save. (Changing to the child theme somehow erases that setting.)

    9) Go to your widgets page and make sure you have the correct widgets in place.

    How to use it:

    To make changes to the css, edit css in the lite.css file.

    I assume all the other rules apply regarding editing template files, etc.

    For additional reference: http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
  • Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 9 months ago

    Is this regarding an already-made Child Theme that you download from somewhere?

    Thread Starter miketurco

    (@miketurco)

    10 years, 9 months ago

    Glad you asked!

    If you look at the theme itself, there is a folder called ChildTheme. That is what I’m talking about in step 1.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 9 months ago

    To make changes to the css, edit css in the lite.css file.

    Are you sure this step is correct?
    Should edits be made to the style.css file (Child Theme) instead?

    Thread Starter miketurco

    (@miketurco)

    10 years, 9 months ago

    I am sure that is correct. If you look at style.css, you’ll see there is nothing in there to edit.

    I suppose that in adding new styles, you could add them to style.css. I have yet to test that.

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 9 months ago

    That is the idea of a Child Theme, to still inherit the styles and to override (not delete or edit them) them when necessary. That’s why, for example, the codex example tells you to use the “@import” line to carry all of the styles over.

    Thread Starter miketurco

    (@miketurco)

    10 years, 9 months ago

    I’m not the author. However, this theme works a little differently.

    This line is in the readme.txt file that comes with the theme (root folder):

    To create a child theme, simply upload the folder “ChildTheme” to to wp-content/themes directory and Select “Child Theme” in “Select a Skin” section of “General Settings” tab of theme options page and Modify lite.css in “childTheme” to suit your wishes.

    Had a read that up front and paid attention, I would have saved myself a lot of trouble.

    wthomas57

    (@wthomas57)

    10 years, 7 months ago

    mikey… i think your misunderstanding how child themes work and what they are for. If you are using a child theme you dont edit the original .css file. You may have made a few other mistakes along the way where this was the “fix” but that is not the answer. If you edit the original, its pointless to be using a child theme. And correct.. there should be anything to “edit” in the child theme’s .css. you only add there what you want to change. So its usually blank unless you copied over all the contents from the original style.css which is unnecessary.
    anyways, best of luck

    wthomas57

    (@wthomas57)

    10 years, 7 months ago

    as a follow up… this theme clearly has some issues. and if doing what you suggested is the solution, then you probably should try another theme or you run the risk of losing all your hard work when updates come out. Because those instructions defy the purpose of a child theme

    Andrew Nevins

    (@anevins)

    WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support

    10 years, 7 months ago

    @wthomas57, btw this thread was regarding Alexandria v.1.0.9 that had a Child Theme directory: http://themes.svn.wordpress.org/alexandria/1.0.9/ – I don’t think the Alexandria Child Theme behaved like a normal Child Theme as miketurco found out.

    wthomas57

    (@wthomas57)

    10 years, 7 months ago

    oh… thats odd.. Doesn’t sound like something I would want to use. Its a shame, because its a nice looking layout and good fonts, etc. But it seems a bit shift for my taste. And for the life of me, cant replace blog title with the logo like i want

    donohuge

    (@donohuge)

    10 years, 5 months ago

    My theme doesn’t have a folder called child theme?

    presh22

    (@presh22)

    10 years, 5 months ago

    I tried for so long to make this them work and concluded that my ineptitude is unmatched. After reading this post, I am refreshed to learn that I am not an idiot. I spent up to 4 hours on this. Tim Ferris would be very displeased. 🙂

    SAD.. I really liked the layout here, but not worth the trouble.

Viewing 12 replies - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
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