How to Make a WordPress Child Theme (Step-by-Step) @ TwentySixForty

Tutorial Overview.

In this tutorial, I will explain what a WordPress theme is and what a WordPress child theme is. We will also determine if and when you would need one. Then I will explain how to create one, how to install it on your WordPress website and how to activate your child theme.

Quickies.

What is a WordPress Theme?
What is a WordPress Child Theme?
When Do I Need to Use a Child Theme?
Why Do I Need to Use a Child Theme?
Things You Will Need to Make a Child Theme.
How to Make a WordPress Child Theme.
How to Install a Child Theme via FTP.
Install a Child Theme Directly in WordPress.
How to Activate a WordPress Child Theme.

What is a WordPress Theme?

A WordPress theme is a combination of files that define the look and feel of a website. A theme controls things like colors, fonts, page layouts, blog styles etc. In this tutorial, I will refer to this as the parent theme.

What is a WordPress Child Theme?

A WordPress child theme is a theme that inherits all of the styles and behavior from a parent theme. It must be paired with a parent theme and cannot function without one. Using a child theme lets you customize your website without editing any of the parent theme files. This allows you to run updates on the parent theme without overwriting your changes.

When Do I Need to Use a Child Theme?

If you plan on modifying any files in your parent theme you will need a child theme.

Why Do I Need to Use a Child Theme?

If you want to customize the look of your website beyond the default ability of your parent theme, you would have to edit the files in that theme. So what happens when your parent theme releases an update? There is a good chance that you will lose your modifications because the files will be overwritten.

I am going to be using Divi, by Elegant Themes as my parent theme in this tutorial. It is the best theme I have come across for ease of use for my clients and I highly suggest you check it out if you don’t already have a go-to WordPress theme. If you need to install WordPress check out this tutorial: How to Install WordPress.

Note: If you are not using the Divi theme, this process will still work. Just substitute your theme name where I reference the Divi theme name.

Things You Will Need to Make a Child Theme.

A text editor like notepad++ or Sublime Text. There are many others available.
A way to access your website files or admin access to the website.

There are 3 Required Parts of a Child Theme.

A folder.
A file named style.css.
A file named functions.php.
Optional: A thumbnail image.

How to Make a WordPress Child Theme.

If you are not using Divi, substitute your theme name for divi. e.g. twentynineteen-child.

Create a folder named divi-child. (Do this on your desktop and we will load it to your website later)
Create a file named style.css and put it in the divi-child folder.
Open the style.css file in a text editor and copy & paste the following code at the top:

/*
Theme Name:     Divi Child
Description:    Divi Child Theme
Author:         TwentySixForty
Author URI:     https://twentysixforty.com
Template:       Divi
Version:        1.0.0
*/

There are technically only two pieces of the above code that are necessary:

Theme Name.
Template – This must match the name of the parent theme which in our case is Divi.

Save the style.css file.
Create a file named functions.php and put it in the divi-child folder.
Open the functions.php file in a text editor and copy & paste the following code at the top:

<?php
function divichild_enqueue_scripts() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri() . '/style.css' );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'divichild_enqueue_scripts' );

Save the functions.php file.
Optional Theme Image: Create an image that is 880px by 660px.
Save it as screenshot.png and put it in the divi-child folder.

How to Install a Child Theme in WordPress.

There are 2 ways to get your child theme into WordPress:

Use an FTP client. If you are unsure how to make an FTP connection, check out this tutorial: How to Create an FTP Account.
Upload a .zip file directly in WordPress