Title: Path-Child and Functions.php
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# Path-Child and Functions.php

 *  Resolved [Lane Lester](https://wordpress.org/support/users/llester/)
 * (@llester)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/)
 * I understand the advantage of child themes and would really like to use them.
   But I almost always run into a snag I can’t handle and go back to my old bad 
   practice of editing the main files.
 * Thank you for including a child theme in this distribution. I have it activated
   and for some things I was able to do my editing there. I hit a snag when I wanted
   to change some code in functions.php.
 * I was trying to get rid of the gravitar images that were showing up with author
   names. I thought if I eliminated get_avatar from function path_author_box() at
   line 400 of functions.php, that would do the trick. So I copied and edited just
   the path_author_box() in the child functions.php. That didn’t work, and I don’t
   remember the error.
 * Even eliminating get_avatar from the main file didn’t get rid of the gravitar
   images. I finally tracked down all instances of get_avatar and eliminated the
   difficulty.
 * **What is the right way to make a change in the child functions.php so it will
   work?**
 * BTW, I’m using this theme in a pro bono installation, and I can’t afford the 
   $29 to get the documentation.
 * Lane
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/path/](http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/path/)

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

 *  Theme Author [Sami Keijonen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samikeijonen/)
 * (@samikeijonen)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039035)
 * You are absolutely right: do not ever modify parent theme files, you will lose
   them when you update the theme.
 * I would just hide avatar adding this line in child theme style.css.
 *     ```
       .avatar {
           display: none;
       }
       ```
   
 * This will hide avatars everywhere. If you just want to hide them from ‘Author
   box’ add this in child theme style.css.
 *     ```
       .author-profile .avatar {
           display: none;
       }
       ```
   
 *  [Andrew Bartel](https://wordpress.org/support/users/andrew-bartel/)
 * (@andrew-bartel)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039057)
 * I think the issue you’re running into is that a child theme’s functions.php file
   is loaded _prior_ to the parent theme’s functions.php. So, it won’t override 
   it by default.
 * Sami’s suggestion to use css is probably the right way to go without diving any
   of us actually diving into the code.
 *  Theme Author [Sami Keijonen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samikeijonen/)
 * (@samikeijonen)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039067)
 * If you really want to do it via child themes `functions.php`, remove Author box
   first. Put this inside setup function.
 *     ```
       /* Remove an author box after singular posts. */
       	remove_action( "{$prefix}_singular-post_after_singular", 'path_author_box', 11 );
       ```
   
 * An roll your own author box. Of course you can copy-paste original code. I would
   still recommend just hide avatar with little css.
 *  Thread Starter [Lane Lester](https://wordpress.org/support/users/llester/)
 * (@llester)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039069)
 * I decided to try to do the right thing, and it seems to have worked. I updated
   to Path 0.1.3 (eliminating my edited files) and added this to the child style.
   css:
    .avatar { display: none; }
 * I _think_ the theme is no longer going to gravatar.com, something I want to avoid.
 * Lane
 *  Theme Author [Sami Keijonen](https://wordpress.org/support/users/samikeijonen/)
 * (@samikeijonen)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039070)
 * > I think the theme is no longer going to gravatar.com, something I want to avoid.
 * That is not the case. CSS only hides avatar.
 * But since you want to disable avatars in your site all together, do this.
 * Go to **Settings >> Discussion**. In there click **Don’t show Avatars**. That’s
   WP functionality and you won’t have to worry about gravatar.com again.
 *  Thread Starter [Lane Lester](https://wordpress.org/support/users/llester/)
 * (@llester)
 * [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039075)
 * Thanks for the tip about **Discussion**; I’ve made that change now.
 * And thank you for Path. I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen so far, and I 
   know I have not yet explored all of its capabilities.
 * Lane

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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## Tags

 * [path](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/path/)

 * 6 replies
 * 3 participants
 * Last reply from: [Lane Lester](https://wordpress.org/support/users/llester/)
 * Last activity: [13 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/path-child-and-functionsphp/#post-3039075)
 * Status: resolved