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

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# Child theme problems

 *  [kath123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kath123/)
 * (@kath123)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/)
 * Hello,
 * I seem to be having a problem with my child theme. When I edit the child theme
   it doesn’t seem to be overriding the parent theme – even when using !important.
 * I think I have added the correct information at the top of the child style.css(
   please correct if I’m wrong):
 * /*
    Theme Name: Mystile Child Theme URI: [http://www.woothemes.com/](http://www.woothemes.com/)
   Description: Child theme for Mystile. Author: Kath Rogers Author URI: kathrogers.
   co.uk Template: mystile Version: 1.3.1 Tags: woothemes
 *  Copyright: (c) 2009-2011 WooThemes.
    License: GNU General Public License v2.0
   License URI: [http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html)
 * */
 * Is there an alternative to using the !important tag to override the parent?
 * Any help is greatly appreciated!

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/)
 * (@wpyogi)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/#post-5705372)
 * Generally, you should avoid using !important except in very limited situations.
   Can you post a link to your site?
 *  Thread Starter [kath123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kath123/)
 * (@kath123)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/#post-5705374)
 * Oh yeah sorry, forgot to add the link:
 * [http://independent-apparel.com/](http://independent-apparel.com/)
 *  [WPyogi](https://wordpress.org/support/users/wpyogi/)
 * (@wpyogi)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/#post-5705376)
 * A couple of things – first is that it looks like the style.css file is getting
   loaded before some other theme styles – so yeah, that’s going to be a problem.
   It’s POSSIBLE to work around that – but you’d need to increase the [specificity of the CSS](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/Specificity)
   you add to your child theme. That’s the way to avoid using !important.
 * Also, your child theme style.css file should not be a copy of the parent stylesheet–
   it should contain only changes.
 * It may be possible to fix where that file is being loaded, but that’s something
   you’d have to ask WooThemes – as these forums only provide theme-specific help
   for themes downloaded from this site.
 * Alternatively, since they may not support it, you might want to look at other
   themes that won’t be so problematic for you.
 *  Thread Starter [kath123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kath123/)
 * (@kath123)
 * [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/#post-5705379)
 * That makes sense. Thinking about it, the last time I used a child theme I only
   added the changes. Not sure why I added the whole parent theme.
 * I’ll read up on increasing the specificity of the CSS and I’ll get in touch with
   WooThemes if I am still having problems.
 * Thanks for your help!
 * Kath

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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

## Tags

 * [!important](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/important/)
 * [child theme](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/child-theme/)
 * [parent theme](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/parent-theme/)
 * [WooThemes](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/woothemes/)

 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [kath123](https://wordpress.org/support/users/kath123/)
 * Last activity: [11 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/child-theme-problems-9/#post-5705379)
 * Status: not resolved

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