Make a child theme after editing

  • mrzedge

    (@mrzedge)


    11 years, 8 months ago

    Godmorning,

    I’ve been using Pinboard theme and been working with it for over a week. But then i read a tutorial which mentioned something called “child theme” i did some research and found out that this is probably something that i should have used. Well i haven’t. I’ve made changes to style.css, header.php and comments.php.

    So my question is, can I go in and make a child themes for these 3 without destroying anything i have already made? Can i make the child themes and just copy/paste the editing from the parent and just put it in the child version or will this in any way mess up the changes ive made?

    Thank u for ur help. Im new and really trying to learn

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • WebPrezence

    (@webprezence)

    11 years, 8 months ago

    Hi mrzedge.

    So my question is, can I go in and make a child themes for these 3 without destroying anything i have already made?

    Absolutely, and this would be my recommendation:

    • All of your changes you’ve made to style.css, functions.php, etc., etc., will be lost when you upgrade your Pinboard theme.
    • The creation (or downloading, or purchasing) of a child theme will allow you to modify the functionality of your parent theme (Pinboard) without tinkering with the code; that’s the primary reason WordPress has child themes.
    • I would highly recommend using a plugin such as Simple Custom CSS — although if you’re using Jetpack (which I don’t like), Jetpack has a Custom CSS module built in. You will now make all CSS changes right there, and they will override your Pinboard’s CSS. And they’re safe! When the plugin upgrades, you’ll maintain your CSS work.
    • When making modification to a functions.php, you’ll then do so using a child theme — without modifying your parent theme’s functions.php.
    • Please migrate all of the changes you’ve made from your parent them to your child theme’s files. You’ll be glad you did in the long-run.
      You can Google instructions to create a child theme, or you can just download a vanilla child theme, which is good enough for your purposes. Studiopress (a respected company) provides a simple, sample child theme that’s free to download.

      Hope this helps!

    Thread Starter mrzedge

    (@mrzedge)

    11 years, 8 months ago

    Thank u very much for a great answer! Fantastic support, fantastic community!

    WebPrezence

    (@webprezence)

    11 years, 8 months ago

    Mrzedge … I apologize!

    I just looked at my answer again. I’m so used to working with the Genesis framework (it’s all I work with), that the sample child theme I provided will only work if you have the Genesis framework.

    Please don’t use that option, and it won’t work with Pinboard.

    Instead, please search around for other child themes that are free.

    I need to get my mind out of the world of Genesis-only.

    My apologies!

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

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