Creating a child theme in WordPress is a great way to customize your site without losing changes when the parent theme updates. Here’s how to do it step by step.
1. Create a Child Theme Folder
Using an FTP client or your hosting file manager, navigate to /wp-content/themes/ and create a new folder. Name it something like yourtheme-child (replace “yourtheme” with your parent theme’s name).
2. Create a style.css File
Inside your child theme folder, create a style.css file and add the following:
/* Theme Name: YourTheme Child Template: yourtheme Version: 1.0 */
Make sure the Template matches the exact folder name of your parent theme.
3. Create a functions.php File
Now, create a functions.php file in the child theme folder and enqueue the parent theme’s styles by adding:
<?php
function my_child_theme_styles() {
wp_enqueue_style('parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css');
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'my_child_theme_styles');
4. Activate Your Child Theme
Go to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard and activate your new child theme.
5. Customize!
Now, you can modify the child theme’s CSS and add template files as needed without affecting the parent theme.
That’s it! You’ve successfully created a WordPress child theme.