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7/3/2008 ↓

Parent Child Themes

Jeff Chandler LinkyLoo

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I didn’t know these existed, but apparently you can assign a child theme to a parent theme. A child theme inherits all the template files of the parent theme except for the style.css file and functions.php, which take precedence over the original. Ian Stewart of Themeshaper.com published a post ( Functions.php WordPress Child Themes ) which goes into detail on how to redesign your blog the smart way basing the work off of a theme framework.

I’m still not sure about the usage of parent-child themes so any help you guys/gals could give me would be appreciated.

(10 votes, average: 3.9 out of 5)

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13 Comments | Leave a comment | Comments RSS

1. 

   Thanks for pointing out this fine demonstration of how to achieve the parent-child theming which allows, among other things, to do more advanced customizing in the menu zone.

   [Reply]

   Claude Gelinas (17 comments.) — 07/3/2008 @ 10:27 pm
2. 

   From what I read in the article and related articles it is best used for CSS and PHP changes to a theme so that if/when you upgrade the theme you don’t have to redo the changes you may have customized. http://themeshaper.com/how-to-.....-upgrades/

   [Reply]

   luna (1 comments.) — 07/3/2008 @ 10:51 pm
3. 

   [...] themes in WordPress.  From How To Protect Your WordPress Theme Against Upgrades (via Parent Child Themes and How I used a WordPress Child Theme To Redesign My Blog The Smart Way): Problem: You’ve [...]

   2718.us blog - Child Themes to Upgrade-Proof Your Theme Changes — 07/4/2008 @ 12:52 am
4. 

   The inheritance is achieved by adding the “Template:” line in the css.
   rtfm @ http://codex.wordpress.org/The.....tyle_Sheet

   [Reply]

   anonimo italiano (1 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 3:55 am
5. 

   [...] So the dreaded word “framework” creeps into the WordPress discussion [...]

   CodeScheme » WordPress theme framework — 07/4/2008 @ 4:27 am
6. 

   You are not the only one that didn’t know it existed but I agree with what Luna but other then that, I don’t really see a point.

   [Reply]

   Snat (2 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 6:08 am
7. 

   Actually all designs you can download for the Sandbox theme is child themes of Sandbox.

   [Reply]

   Kristin K. Wangen (4 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 7:10 am
8. 

   The way I know it, child theme uses all its parent’s PHP theme files (thus its functionalities), while it only provides the CSS and images. If you take a look inside a child theme folder, you will only see a style.css file (plus optional images), without all the usual php stuff.

   So like what Kristin above explains, all the designs for Sandbox theme are child themes of Sandbox: they use all of Sandbox’s functionalities, only providing different look.

   [Reply]

   Hafiz Rahman (1 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 8:21 am
9. 

   The templates of a child theme needs to much html for me. Zen garden ist beautiful, but this is nothing for css beginners
   And all designs at Zen garden are Child Themes.

   Most of this themes - Sandbox too- are really *div layouts*
   more div container than content

   Monika

   [Reply]

   Monika (35 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 8:47 am
10. 

    Definitely check out the Sandbox theme and all the assorted sub-themes. They’ve been using this parent-child scheme for quite a while. You install the sandbox theme first, and then any of the themed-sandboxes. Most of the subthemes are just CSS.

    [Reply]

    Otto (50 comments.) — 07/4/2008 @ 12:13 pm
11. 

    going to have to seriously look into this. Very interesting, Thank You for the info.

    [Reply]

    thomas (1 comments.) — 07/5/2008 @ 10:58 pm
12. 

    one caveat: You cannot create “page template” with child theme scheme, WP only looks for template files inside parent directory.

    [Reply]

    ChaosKaizer (52 comments.) — 07/12/2008 @ 2:13 pm
13. 

    [...] même des thèmes. Personnellement, j’attends de voir ce que ça va donner avec impatience. On a pas mal entendu parler de ces thèmes “enfants” ces dernières semaines et il paraît que c’est vraiment quelque chose de nouveau… Je demande donc à voir [...]

    Justin Tadlock lance son “Themes Club” — 08/7/2008 @ 5:00 am

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