{"id":20096,"date":"2017-04-28T12:10:52","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T12:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/?p=20096"},"modified":"2021-12-30T10:47:33","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T05:02:33","slug":"wordpress-child-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-child-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is a WordPress Child Theme Important and How to Create It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The awesome <a class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/theme\/premium-wordpress-themes\/\">WordPress theme<\/a> you are using on your website is great.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe you want to tweak the theme&#8217;s code a bit to suit your needs. Or, you want to learn how to customize a WordPress theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then (whether you want to add\/remove even a single line of code), we at Rara Theme highly recommended everyone to use a WordPress Child Theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating a child theme, believe us, will save you from more than just headaches in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A child theme, as the name suggests, is a child of a theme i.e. it inherits all the functionality and style of its parent (just like we inherit DNA from our parents).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_76 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title ez-toc-toggle\" style=\"cursor:pointer\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-child-theme\/#Why_is_a_WordPress_Child_Theme_Important\" >Why is a WordPress Child Theme Important<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-child-theme\/#1_Child_Theme_will_save_Health_and_Money\" >1.&nbsp; Child Theme will save Health and Money<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-child-theme\/#2_Child_Theme_is_Update_Resistant\" >2. Child Theme is Update Resistant<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-child-theme\/#How_to_Create_a_WordPress_Child_Theme\" >How to Create a WordPress Child Theme<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_is_a_WordPress_Child_Theme_Important\"><\/span>Why is a WordPress Child Theme Important<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, maybe I am wrong, but everyone will have to edit\/modify their website one day. Our needs increase with time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t just install a new theme or hire a developer (costly) every time you need to add a small functionality on your WordPress website. You will need to tweak the codes yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, the best method to make changes to codes is by using a child theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s why you should create and start using a child theme immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Child_Theme_will_save_Health_and_Money\"><\/span>1.&nbsp; Child Theme will save Health and Money<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Playing with codes can be dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you touch or modify the wrong line of code, you might mess up your whole website. Therefore, you should never touch the code of the main theme file (parent theme) unless you are a pro!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, create a child theme and modify your website there. If you mess up, you can always fall back to the original (parent) theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, the child theme will save you from a lot of future headaches (which in turn will save furniture and things around you). Also, you won\u2019t need to hire a pro to undo your miscoding (use that money to enjoy a vacation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Child_Theme_is_Update_Resistant\"><\/span>2. Child Theme is Update Resistant<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Theme developers like us release updates to their WordPress themes frequently. New updates usually have added features, <a class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wordpress-security\/\">security updates, and bug fixes<\/a>. So, it is highly recommended that you update your theme as soon as the updates are released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, if you have made changes in the theme files of the original parent theme, you will lose all your customization when you update your WordPress theme. You won\u2019t lose the customization done through the customizer though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, when you use a child theme to do your modifications, your changes will not be erased when you update the parent theme. The child theme will inherit the codes from the new updated parent theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Create_a_WordPress_Child_Theme\"><\/span>How to Create a WordPress Child Theme<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We will use a free WordPress plugin called <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/child-theme-wizard\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"rank-math-link\">Child Theme Wizard<\/a> to create a child theme in this guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are a coding expert and prefer the manual method, you can find the instruction <a href=\"https:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Child_Themes\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" class=\"rank-math-link\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Otherwise, follow my lead and create a WordPress Child Theme in a minute without any fuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 1: <\/strong>Login to your WordPress admin panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 2: <\/strong>Go to <strong>Plugins&gt; Add New<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"486\" height=\"223\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/add-plugin-png.png\" alt=\"add plugin.png\" class=\"wp-image-20097\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/add-plugin-png.png 486w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/add-plugin-png-300x138.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 486px) 100vw, 486px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 3:<\/strong> Search, install, and activate Child Theme Wizard plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1084\" height=\"206\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/search-plugin-png.png\" alt=\"search plugin.png\" class=\"wp-image-20098\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/search-plugin-png.png 1084w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/search-plugin-png-300x57.png 300w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/search-plugin-png-768x146.png 768w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/search-plugin-png-1024x195.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1084px) 100vw, 1084px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1067\" height=\"467\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/install-plugin-png.png\" alt=\"install plugin.png\" class=\"wp-image-20099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/install-plugin-png.png 1067w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/install-plugin-png-300x131.png 300w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/install-plugin-png-768x336.png 768w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/install-plugin-png-1024x448.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1067px) 100vw, 1067px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1080\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-plugin-png.png\" alt=\"activate plugin.png\" class=\"wp-image-20100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-plugin-png.png 1080w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-plugin-png-300x123.png 300w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-plugin-png-768x316.png 768w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-plugin-png-1024x421.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 4: <\/strong>After you activate the plugin, go to <strong>Tools &gt; Child Theme Wizard.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"651\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tools-child-theme-png.png\" alt=\"tools child theme.png\" class=\"wp-image-20101\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tools-child-theme-png.png 651w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/tools-child-theme-png-300x111.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 651px) 100vw, 651px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 5: <\/strong>Select the Parent theme (the theme that you want to work on), enter the Title (name) for your child theme and fill in other extra details(optional). Then, click \u201c<strong>Create Child Theme.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"689\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/create-a-child-theme-png.png\" alt=\"create a child theme.png\" class=\"wp-image-20102\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/create-a-child-theme-png.png 689w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/create-a-child-theme-png-300x226.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 689px) 100vw, 689px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When the child theme is successfully created, you will see the following message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"604\" height=\"421\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/success-child-theme-png.png\" alt=\"success child theme.png\" class=\"wp-image-20103\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/success-child-theme-png.png 604w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/success-child-theme-png-300x209.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Step 6: <\/strong>Go to <strong>Appearance&gt; Themes <\/strong>and activate the new child theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1085\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-child-theme-png.png\" alt=\"activate child theme.png\" class=\"wp-image-20104\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-child-theme-png.png 1085w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-child-theme-png-300x124.png 300w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-child-theme-png-768x317.png 768w, https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/activate-child-theme-png-1024x423.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1085px) 100vw, 1085px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Voila! You now have a child theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Modify your website as you like it without worrying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At last, since creating a child theme is very important, and this easy, what\u2019s your excuse?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The awesome WordPress theme you are using on your website is great. But. Maybe you want to tweak the theme&#8217;s code a bit to suit your needs. Or, you want &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_be_single_description":"","_be_image_uploader":0,"_be_meta_button_label":"","_be_meta_button_url":"","_be_meta_button_newtab":false,"_be_meta_rel_attribute":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","category-beginners","category-blogging","latest_post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rarathemes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}