How To Create a Child Theme for Customization in WordPress

In this tutorial, we’ll walk you through the process of creating a child theme in WordPress to enhance your website’s customization capabilities. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, using a child theme is essential for preserving your customizations while seamlessly updating the parent theme. By following the step-by-step instructions below, you’ll learn how to create a robust child theme, properly enqueue scripts and styles, organize your theme files, and modify template files. Let’s dive in and discover how to create a child theme for customization in WordPress!

Choose a Suitable Parent Theme

To create a child theme, select a parent theme that aligns with your website’s requirements and design goals. It’s crucial to choose a parent theme that offers a solid foundation and flexibility for customization. Research and evaluate various themes to find the most suitable one for your project.

Create a New Folder for Your Child Theme

Navigate to your WordPress themes directory (wp-content/themes) using FTP or a file manager. Create a new folder with a unique name for your child theme. It’s best practice to prefix the folder name with your theme or company name to ensure uniqueness and avoid conflicts. For example, let’s name it “mytheme-child“.

Create the Child Theme’s Stylesheet

Inside the child theme folder, create a new file named “style.css“. This file will house the styles specific to your child theme. Open the “style.css” file and add the following code at the top:

/*
Theme Name: MyTheme Child
Theme URI: URL of your child theme
Description: Child theme for MyTheme
Author: Your Name
Author URI: Your Website
Template: mytheme
Version: 1.0.0
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
Tags: light, dark, two-columns, right-sidebar, responsive-layout, accessibility-ready
Text Domain: mytheme-child
*/
Code language: PHP (php)

• Theme Name: This is the name of your child theme. It will be displayed in the WordPress dashboard and should accurately describe your child theme.
• Theme URI: Optionally, you can provide the URL of your child theme’s website. This could be a page where users can learn more about your child theme.
• Description: Here, provide a brief description of your child theme. Explain what it offers or any unique features it has compared to the parent theme.
• Author: Enter your name or the name of the theme’s author. This helps identify the creator of the child theme.
• Author URI: Optionally, you can provide a website URL associated with the author. This could be your personal website or a portfolio page.
• Template: Specify the folder name of the parent theme. This tells WordPress that your child theme is based on the specified parent theme.
• Version: Set the version number of your child theme. It helps in tracking updates and changes to your theme.
• License: Mention the license information for your child theme. Typically, it is the GNU General Public License (GPL) or a compatible license.
• Tags: Optionally, you can add descriptive tags to your child theme. These tags provide additional information about the theme’s characteristics, such as color schemes, layout options, or accessibility features.
• Text Domain: Specify the text domain for translation purposes. This allows your child theme to be translated into different languages. It’s helpful if you plan to make your theme available to a global audience.

Replace the placeholder values in each section. Provide accurate information for the other fields as well.

Create the Child Theme’s Functions File

Inside the child theme folder, create a new file named “functions.php“. This file will serve as the entry point for your customization. Open the “functions.php” file and add the following code snippet:

// Enqueue child theme scripts and styles
function enqueue_child_theme_scripts() {
	// Enqueue parent theme styles
	wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );

	// Enqueue child theme styles
	wp_enqueue_style( 'child-style', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/css/custom.css', array( 'parent-style' ) );

	// Enqueue custom JavaScript file
	wp_enqueue_script( 'custom-script', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/custom.js', array( 'jquery' ), '1.0.0', true );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'enqueue_child_theme_scripts' );

Code language: PHP (php)

In the code snippet above, we first enqueue the parent theme’s stylesheet (parent-style) using get_template_directory_uri(). Then we enqueue the child theme’s stylesheet (child-style) located in the css folder, with a dependency on the parent stylesheet (array( 'parent-style' )). Finally, we enqueue the custom JavaScript file as before.

This will ensure that both the parent and child theme stylesheets are loaded correctly, with the parent stylesheets being loaded first.

Organize Your Child Theme Files

To keep your child theme organized, consider creating separate directories for different types of files. For example, you can create seperate directories to store CSS and JavaScript files, a “templates” directory for custom template files, and additional directories for specific functionality, such as shortcodes or AJAX functions. Here’s an example folder structure:

mytheme-child/                   // Child theme folder
├── style.css                    // Child theme's main stylesheet
├── functions.php                // Child theme's functions file
├── screenshot.png               // Child theme's screenshot image
├── css/                         // CSS folder
│   └── custom.css               // Custom CSS file
├── js/                          // JS folder
│   └── custom.js                // Custom JavaScript file
├── templates/                   // Templates folder
│   └── custom-template.php      // Custom template file
├── shortcodes/                  // Shortcodes folder
│   └── my-shortcode.php         // Custom shortcode file
└── ajax/                        // Ajax folder
    └── ajax-functions.php       // Ajax functions file

Code language: PHP (php)

Modify Template Files

To make modifications to your child theme, you can override and modify specific template files from the parent theme. This allows you to customize the website’s structure and layout. Identify the template file you want to modify and create a corresponding file in your child theme folder with the same name and path. WordPress will prioritize the child theme’s template file over the parent theme’s file.

For example, to modify the header template, locate the “header.php” file in the parent theme, copy it to your child theme folder, and make the necessary changes. Repeat this process for other template files you want to modify, such as “footer.php”, “single.php”, etc. Customize these files to meet your specific requirements, such as adding or removing elements, rearranging sections, or applying different styling.

That’s it! You’ve successfully created a child theme for customization in WordPress. By following the detailed steps outlined in this tutorial, you now have the foundation to take control of your website’s design and functionality while maintaining compatibility with future theme updates. Remember to choose a suitable parent theme, create a child theme folder, define the child theme’s stylesheet, enqueue scripts and styles, and modify template files to achieve your desired customizations. Embrace the power of child themes!