Title: child theme path
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# child theme path

 *  [docrocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/docrocks/)
 * (@docrocks)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/)
 * My twentyten child theme style.css is in folder /childtheme. Maybe I have it 
   pathed incorrectly? I’ve tried placing it in /wp-content and /wp-content/themes
   directories but style changes are not being used. To add to the mystery I tried
   a couple of changes in twentyten/style.css and they are also not being used. 
   The site under construction is [here](http://professionalma.net/staging).
 * My goal is to add a background color to the sidebar area.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [flamenco](https://wordpress.org/support/users/flamenco/)
 * (@flamenco)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089532)
 * You are right putting your new folder under /wp-content/themes/.
 * A popular problem is having an incorrectly coded “Theme:…” line at the beginning
   of your child theme. If that doesn’t have the exact folder name of the parent
   theme folder, it won’t work.
 * Details here:
    [http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes](http://codex.wordpress.org/Child_Themes)
 *  [Digital Raindrops](https://wordpress.org/support/users/adeptris/)
 * (@adeptris)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089580)
 * Hi Mark,
    It is not easy adding a background color to the sidebars.
 * The problem being that if the content is taller than the sidebar you have the
   sidebar block in the color and the space underneath white.
 * You would also need to add a little padding as well.
 *     ```
       #primary, #secondary {
           background: f1f1f1;
           padding: 5px 8px;
       }
       ```
   
 * In a [magazine theme](http://theme.digitalraindrops.net) I am working on I use
   clear:both; to make the posts in the two column sections the same height so the
   titles line up in the next row.
 * Try:
 *     ```
       #content{
           clear:both;
       }
       ```
   
 * Or add a clearing div
 * `<div style="clear:both;"></div>`
 * If it does not work I think Esmi had a bit of css that will make the content 
   and sidebar area’s the same height.
 * Not sure why the comment is in your dynamic style which tutorial or post was 
   it from as you should remove my comment line.
 * David
 *  [esmi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/esmi/)
 * (@esmi)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089588)
 * > If it does not work I think Esmi had a bit of css that will make the content
   > and sidebar area’s the same height.
 * Ooo – I got invoked! 😉
 * Do you mean something like:
 *     ```
       .sidebar:after {
           content: ".";
           display: block;
           height: 0;
           clear: both;
           visibility: hidden;
       }
       ```
   
 * Can’t recall if I’ve ever used that to pull a column down but it’s darn useful
   for clearing all floats.
 *  [Digital Raindrops](https://wordpress.org/support/users/adeptris/)
 * (@adeptris)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089616)
 * I tried it not working with #primary:after, I think it would need to be wrapped
   in a new div for twenty ten.
 * I have done it once before and if I remember I created a new container to wrap
   the content and sidebar with the background color.
 * I then made the sidebar background transparent and the content background white.
 * HTH
 * David
 *  Thread Starter [docrocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/docrocks/)
 * (@docrocks)
 * [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089681)
 * After getting the path fixed for the child theme, I was able to change the [sidebar widget area background color](http://professionalma.net/staging).
   I tried the suggestions on column height but they haven’t worked. Althought it
   would be nice to be able to do this without hacking the core code, I expect the
   sidebar to have several widgets so it may not be visually distracting.
 * My goal is to make the layout look like [this design](http://professionalma.net/staging/final_layout.pdf).
   How can I layer the #content and #primary and #widget-area to achieve this?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 The topic ‘child theme path’ is closed to new replies.

 * 5 replies
 * 4 participants
 * Last reply from: [docrocks](https://wordpress.org/support/users/docrocks/)
 * Last activity: [15 years, 4 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-path/#post-2089681)
 * Status: not resolved

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