Title: Child theme error
Last modified: August 22, 2016

---

# Child theme error

 *  Resolved [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/)
 * Hello, I am brand new to wordpress and have been learning as I go and trying 
   to solve most of my issues by using this support forum. So, thank you to all 
   who contribute your knowledge!
 * I am using the ‘Custom Community’ Theme because I already had a website written
   by a firm and I now needed to be able to completely edit on my own. So, I need
   to make an exact replica of my current site and then edit and add.
 * 1. I created a child theme.
    2. I created my multiple template pages (ex: page-
   about)and in first line added `<?php /* * Template Name: Template About * Description:
   A Page Template for the about page. */ get_header(‘about’); ?>` 3. I created 
   my multiple header pages (ex: header-about) 4. Went into WordPress and added 
   all my new pages and attributed them to their appropriate template page. 5. Went
   into ‘Theme Settings/CSS’ and added all my custom css.
 * Almost everything pulls up as it should, i.e. links, images, slideshow.
 * My 2 biggest issues:
 * My home page must be pulling info from some default. When preview, on the left
   side of the page it has 4 icons, About WordPress, Home, Dashboard and Comments.
   If I go hover over a big dark grey box appears. I have tried turning off any 
   and all widgets or looked for any other setting to change and can not figure 
   it out. If I switch to the parent theme Custom Cummunity then my page looks fine,
   no boxes.
 * My second issue. Some of my custom css styling is off. I know its not the actual
   code because my present website looks fine. My biggest issue is that my some 
   of my header info not all is dropped down about an inch.
 * Can anyone help? UGH I will try any recommendations.
 * Thank you

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

 *  [vtxyzzy](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vtxyzzy/)
 * (@vtxyzzy)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227441)
 * It is very difficult to help with this type of problem without being able to 
   view the site. If you post a link to your site where the problem can be seen,
   someone may be able to help you.
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227463)
 * How do I post a link for viewing? I haven’t published it yet because I don’t 
   want to take down my already functioning site until this new one is ready to 
   go.
 * Thank you for your help.
 * Update:
 * I tried switching to the blankslate theme to see if it was just an error within
   the custom community theme and unfortunately it wasn’t. The same boxes show up
   when you hover but only after I create a child theme. If I add all my template
   pages to the parent theme, I don’t have these problems but I know your not suppose
   to edit parent theme. The boxes are basically the WordPress heading, but instead
   of going across the top the show up throughout my home page.
 * Thank you again
 *  [Andrew Nevins](https://wordpress.org/support/users/anevins/)
 * (@anevins)
 * WCLDN 2018 Contributor | Volunteer support
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227464)
 * Just note that if you don’t provide a link to the issue then we have to go through
   and try to replicate the problem, by following your 5 steps. It’s just a bit 
   daunting and tedious and it decreases the likelihood that people will help you.
 * Still don’t know how we’re going to replicate this:
 * >  5. Went into ‘Theme Settings/CSS’ and added all my custom css.
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227465)
 * Thank you Andrew for the advise and I completely understand.
 * How do I provide a link if I can’t make it live?
 * I am more than happy to provide whatever info you need to help as I have researched
   for days now. I did see in the WP.org forum someone else had the same grey box
   scenario but said it was because they were copying their page-about.php, page-
   contact.php, etc. with the info from the index.php file. The original author 
   of my website index.php file is the home page. There was not a separate home.
   php. Every other page had it’s individual .php file. Does this have something
   to do with my issue? If so, why did it not happen when I put the info in the 
   parent file?
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227467)
 * Could a plugin maybe cause this problem?
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227468)
 * This is the code that is showing up with the grey boxes:
 *  <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-wp-logo” class=”menupop”>[<span style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-icon”></span>](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/about.php)
   <div style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-sub-wrapper”><ul style=”text-shadow:
   none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-wp-logo-default” class=”ab-submenu”>
    <li style=”text-
   shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-about”>[About WordPress](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/about.php)
   <ul style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-wp-logo-external” class=”ab-sub-
   secondary ab-submenu”> <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-wporg”
   >[WordPress.org](https://wordpress.org/) <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-
   admin-bar-documentation”>[Documentation](http://codex.wordpress.org/) <li style
   =”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-support-forums”>[Support Forums](https://wordpress.org/support/)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-feedback”>[Feedback](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/requests-and-feedback)
   </div> <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-site-name” class=”menupop”
   >[757.6f6.myftpupload.com](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/)<div style
   =”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-sub-wrapper”><ul style=”text-shadow: none;” id
   =”wp-admin-bar-site-name-default” class=”ab-submenu”> <li style=”text-shadow:
   none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-dashboard”>[Dashboard](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/)
   <ul style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-appearance” class=”ab-submenu”
   > <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-themes”>[Themes](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/themes.php)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-customize” class=”hide-if-no-
   customize”>[Customize](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/customize.php?url=http%3A%2F%2F757.6f6.myftpupload.com%2F%3Fpreview%3Dtrue%26preview_id%3D61%26preview_nonce%3Df75a9298f0)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-widgets”>[Widgets](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/widgets.php)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-menus”>[Menus](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/nav-menus.php)
   </div> <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-comments”>[<span style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-icon”></span><span style=”text-shadow: none; opacity: 0.5;” id=”ab-awaiting-mod” class=”ab-label awaiting-mod pending-count count-0″>0</span>](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-content” class=”menupop”>
   [<span style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-icon”></span><span style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-label”>New</span>](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/post-new.php)
   <div style=”text-shadow: none;” class=”ab-sub-wrapper”><ul style=”text-shadow:
   none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-content-default” class=”ab-submenu”> <li style=”text-
   shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-post”>[Post](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/post-new.php)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-media”>[Media](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/media-new.php)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-page”>[Page](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/post-new.php?post_type=page)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-new-user”>[User](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/user-new.php)
   </div> <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-edit”>[Edit Page](http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=61&action=edit)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-gd-system-flush-cache”>[Flush Cache](https://wordpress.org/?preview=true&preview_id=61&preview_nonce=f75a9298f0&GD_COMMAND=FLUSH_CACHE&GD_NONCE=f746ee861a)
   <li style=”text-shadow: none;” id=”wp-admin-bar-gd-system-control-panel”>[GoDaddy Settings](http://gateway.godaddy.com/)
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227469)
 * I tried deactivating all plugin’s and that did not work.
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227486)
 * I’m starting over and maybe someone can tell me where my error begins without
   having to duplicate. This problem ONLY happens in a child theme and ONLY on my
   home page after it is designated as home page no matter what I name it. I’m only
   worried about grey bozes at this point and not my style. Here are my steps.
    
   1.I deleted BlankSlate & BlankSlate child theme along with all my page.php, header.
   php and style.css files. I deactivated all plugin’s besides Meta Slider.
 * 2.Downloaded fresh copy of BlankSlate, made new BlankSlate child added style.
   css file with heading naming BlankSlate as template.
 * _[ Moderator note: code fixed. Please wrap code in the backtick character or 
   [use the code button](http://codex.wordpress.org/Forum_Welcome#Posting_Code).]_
 *     ```
       /*Theme Name: BlankSlate Child Theme
       Version: 1.0
       Description: A child theme of BlankSlate
       Template: blankslate*/
       @import url("../blankslate/style.css");
   
       3.Opened my home page & grey boxes were NOT there. Then added my footer.php & NO grey boxes.
       <div id="footer">
       <link rel="stylesheet" href="<?php echo get_template_directory_uri(); ?>/style.css" type="text/css" media="all" />
       <link href="<?php echo get_stylesheet_uri(); ?>" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
       etc...
   
       4.Then I added page-home.php & header-home.php templates & grey boxes appeared.  To create page-home, I copied the page.php file from BlankSlate parent and added heading:
       <?php /* Template Name: Home */ ?>
       <?php get_header('home'); ?>
       I didn't change anything else.
   
       To create header-home I started with:
       <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
       <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"<?php language_attributes(); ?>>
       <head>
       <title><?php bloginfo('name'); ?><?php wp_title(); ?></title>
       meta
       scripts
       <?php wp_head(); ?>
       </head>
       <body <?php body_class(); ?> id="home">
       .
       .
       .
       </body>
       </html>
       ```
   
 * The WP header/ Admin bar that’s on every page creates grey boxes going down the
   page, 1 box for every icon. When go to Inspect Element the first grey box code
   is:
 *     ```
       <a href="http://757.6f6.myftpupload.com/wp-admin/about.php" title="About WordPress"><span style="text-shadow: none;" class="ab-icon"></span></a>
       ```
   
 * Then
    `<li>` list appears for every admin bar item About, Site-name, Comments,
   New-content, Edit, System-flush-cache, etc. Top left box is About & then to right
   is Site-name, Comments under About. When I 1st put page templates in parent theme(
   before learning I need to create child theme)no boxes appeared & my home page
   looked correct. Boxes only happen in child theme. I tried naming my home page
   other names, but seems as soon as pick the ‘static page’ for Front Page Displays,
   that’s when boxes appear. Please tell me what further info to provide to help
   solve problem. I appreciate your time & help.
 *  Thread Starter [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * (@soccergrl)
 * [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227495)
 * Was missing a </div> which caused grey WP admin boxes to appear.

Viewing 9 replies - 1 through 9 (of 9 total)

The topic ‘Child theme error’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 9 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [soccergrl](https://wordpress.org/support/users/soccergrl/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 9 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-error-3/#post-5227495)
 * Status: resolved

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