1

I inherited a site that didn't use a child theme, and now it needs to be updated. Can I take the original parent theme, change the style sheet header, copy it into the root, delete everything but wp-content and make it be the child theme? In the past, I've loaded any files I wanted from the parent into the child theme, and it is my understanding that the browser will prefer whatever's in the child theme.

1 Answer 1

-2

That is 100% the approach you should take. You can even set up the child theme with a folder your-child-theme-name/ and then a style.css which uses the parent as the template:

template: your-parent-theme-folder

Then, you can either import the styles into this style.css (@import url('../parent-theme-folder/style.css')) or start from scratch as needed.

You'll also be able to pull in files you want to edit (like header.php or footer.php).

Additional reading:

4
  • 1
    thank you, I'm not sure you're addressing my question specifically, which is, can I literally rename the current parent as -child, and load up a fresh, updated copy of the parent. To simplify I would remove anything from now what is the child that wasn't altered originally. i was just wondering if anyone had done that.
    – plushjudy
    Apr 24, 2020 at 0:41
  • My apologies, I completely missed the point of your question! You are absolutely correct, you can do that. Again, my apologies for confusing issues here.
    – Tom
    Apr 24, 2020 at 13:42
  • 1
    no problem and thanks!
    – plushjudy
    Apr 24, 2020 at 17:08
  • When did child themes stop becoming best practice? I'm trying to brush up on the last 9 years.
    – joelhaus
    Jul 27, 2020 at 14:09

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.