Title: Child Theme Last modified: August 21, 2016 --- # Child Theme * [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/) * I’m afraid I got ahead of myself building new site and did not create a Child Theme. Now trying to create one, find that “wp-content/themes” page only shows blank space. How can I restore it to normal mode? Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 19 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/page/2/?output_format=md) * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291859) * Sorry? Are you accessing your site using FTP? * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291877) * No. I modified the TwentyThirteen theme and now afraid I can’t make a Child Theme. Is that correct? * [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/) * (@esmi) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291886) * Yes you can. Download your current 2013 theme then re-upload a fresh, unpacked, copy of the Twenty Thirteen folder to wp-content/themes using [FTP](http://codex.wordpress.org/FTP_Clients) or whatever file management application your host provides. [http://wordpress.org/themes/twentythirteen](http://wordpress.org/themes/twentythirteen) * Finally port all of your changes over to a new child theme. * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291887) * “Finally port all of your changes over to a new child theme.” * NOT being able to FIND a child theme is what started this post. * I’m sorry to be so dense but I don’t understand what you mean by “D/L current 2103 theme and re-upload new copy” I have 2013 theme, modified, already. Also I cannot access wp-content/themes. * [Joshua David Nelson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joshuadnelson/) * (@joshuadnelson) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291889) * Change the name of your modified theme folder and update the style.css to match the [Child Theme guidelines](http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes#How_to_Create_a_Child_Theme). Then upload the original 2013 theme into your WordPress installation. * Everything you need to know about making a child theme is in that link. Your child theme builds off the parent (original) theme, and that parent theme needs to exist separately from the child theme. So you should have a folder for twentythirteen and a twentythirteen-child – the latter is your modified theme, the former is the unmodified version. * [leejosepho](https://wordpress.org/support/users/leejosepho/) * (@leejosepho) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291893) * > I cannot access wp-content/themes. * What file manager are you trying to use? I use FileZilla and an SFTP connection at the server. * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291900) * Time for an update of the trials of FlaBill. Changed the address by adding a word to it. Bad move, removed word but could not get back to original settings. Display showed the project without styling. Could not find a way to get it styled. Desperation set in and I deleted the site. Re-installed WordPress and now sure I haven’t modified anything crucial to prevent making a Child Theme. Following instructions from Codex site made this: “wp-content/themes/twentythirteen-child/ style.css” and got a result of the site showing a giant 404 in the middle portion. What am I missing? * [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/) * (@wpyogi) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291901) * What is in your new style.css file? * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291902) * I have no idea…please tell me how to find it. * [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/) * (@wpyogi) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291903) * You should have created the file – perhaps you need to review: * [http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes](http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes) * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291905) * Thanks, wonder why I never thought of that. * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291906) * OK, making progress, almost there. Found files needed were in File Mgr of my host site, didn’t realize that. Made Child theme and style.css as directed and all went well until trying to get it to show and activate on the Themes page. Not sure why. Here’s the site maybe a code source inspection will reveal a clue? [http://wielert.net/wordpress](http://wielert.net/wordpress) What say you? * [Joshua David Nelson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joshuadnelson/) * (@joshuadnelson) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291907) * FlaBill, * Without seeing what you have in your style.css, not much can be discerned on the forum. You should have something with, at the very least, this: * ``` /* Theme Name: Twenty Thirteen Child Template: twentythirteen */ @import url("../twentythirteen/style.css"); ``` * That should be at the top, you can have other fields in there, per the child theme guidelines (for author, description, etc), but you need those lines at the top of your style.css, which should be your child theme folder * Thread Starter [FlaBill](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flabill/) * (@flabill) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291908) * /* Theme Name: Twenty Thirteen Child Theme URI: [http://wielert.net/wordpress/twenty-thirteen-child/](http://wielert.net/wordpress/twenty-thirteen-child/) Description: Twenty Thirteen Child Theme Author: John Doe Author URI: [http://wielert.net](http://wielert.net) Template: twentythirteen Version: 1.0.0 */ * [@import](https://wordpress.org/support/users/import/) url(“../twentythirteen/ style.css”); * /* =Theme customization starts here ————————————————————– */ * Is that ok? * [Joshua David Nelson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joshuadnelson/) * (@joshuadnelson) * [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/#post-4291909) * Yea, that should work. You have this in the child theme folder (twentythirteen- child) and that folder is in wp-content/themes/ right? Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 19 total) 1 [2](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/page/2/?output_format=md) [→](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/page/2/?output_format=md) The topic ‘Child Theme’ is closed to new replies. * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/) * 19 replies * 5 participants * Last reply from: [Joshua David Nelson](https://wordpress.org/support/users/joshuadnelson/) * Last activity: [12 years, 6 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-55/page/2/#post-4291919) * Status: not resolved ## Topics ### Topics with no replies ### Non-support topics ### Resolved topics ### Unresolved topics ### All topics