Theme Faqs - Install the child theme

Written by Mie Tran

Last updated 1 year ago

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1. What is a child theme?

A child theme is a special type of WordPress theme that inherits functionalities from parent theme. Child themes are a safe way to modify a WordPress theme without actually making any changes to the parent theme’s files. When the parent theme gets updated, changes made in the child theme are preserved and applied to the updated version as well. You need to install the parent theme first and then install the child theme.

2. Why should you use child theme?

It Solves the Update Problem: We all want to customize a new theme after activating it on a WordPress site. Because every site has a specific purpose and a reasonable extent of modification is necessary to reflect that. If you update the main theme, all the customization (code level) you made in it will be lost. That means you will need to start from the beginning. It is a problem. A child theme saves you from this. If you use a child theme, you can update/upgrade the parent theme without losing the modifications.

Extend Freely: You can easily extend your site’s theme by adding or modifying features. You will easily find every modification in the child theme folder. No need to edit the source files in the parent theme folder.

Restore Easily: Editing theme files wrongly may crash a site in moments. If you face such a horrible situation, just go through the files you have edited recently. You can do it using an FTP program or from the site’s cPanel. If you are unable to fix the problem, just delete the relevant file from the child theme folder. Your site will be back. Now you can activate the parent (or another) theme and get an intact child theme.

3. How to install child theme?

Installing a child theme is the same as installing a parent theme, please check this article for reference. But remember, you need to install the parent theme first, then install and activate the child theme. Then you can just copy the files to the child theme directory and then edit them.
We provide a child theme with Kalles theme. Simply install and let’s start playing with it.