That could be possible, but with more work and inevitable headaches than getting a Child Theme working. Begin your Child Theme with nothing below the @import line and no other files, then set your customizations and widgets at the Dashboard…and then begin adding more to your Child Theme while checking every little thing as you go along. Your progress might seem a bit slow at first, but you will ultimately look back with a smile at getting a truly-workable start.
You should be copying the files like header.php from the parent theme to the child theme before you do any changes – and only change the files in the child theme. That way the updates of the parent theme won’t over-write those files and you won’t have to keep re-uploading them.
I agree. Stick with the child theme but add your changes one at a time so you can keep track of where the problems come up.
What kind of problems are you having?
Which parent theme are you making a child theme of?
Thread Starter
mark81
(@mark81)
I’m using responsivepro (by cyberchimps) as the main theme, and they also have a child theme template.
Just one question, the whole reason of developing a child theme is to update the parent theme so we are more secure, however won’t the php files copied into the child theme cause the same security issues?
I’ve now found out how to do the child theme properly – the wordpress child theme help page only said the style.css and said nothing about the php files which is where I ran into problems.
Great, glad to hear you’re all good.
The ‘security’ you get from a child theme isn’t server-related. It means that when the parent theme is updated by the theme developer, you can update it without overwriting all the great changes you made to customize your own site. The changes still live in the files you added to your child theme, but the main theme files get updated with the parent. It simplifies things.
the whole reason of developing a child theme is to update the parent theme so we are more secure
Not all of the time. There are some security updates, but not every update is security. It’s up to you to read the realease notes to find out what each update changes/fixes.
won’t the php files copied into the child theme cause the same security issues?
Yes, but that comes back to my previous answer too. There may be some times when you’ll need to go back and re-do the changes again if something big in the theme changes.
Keep in mind that a huge percentage of security issues are based around the functions and not the template code, so under normal circumstances any security fixes will be done in the functions.php file or other purely functional files, and not in the template files themselves.
Also, do not assume all php files get copied into the Child Theme, and I think that can vary from theme to theme…so check into that and be sure which is which or a serious breakdown could send you scrambling.
