Are child themes still recommended?

  • This may not be the right place for this question. I’ve been using WordPress to build sites for years and it was always highly recommended that a child them be used. And it was necessary in the “old days” because often code would have to be edited to get WP to do what we wanted.

    But now WP is so advanced that there’s almost nothing a little custom CSS won’t fix. And with the constant updates, I would like to be able to update themes to keep up with improvements. Which I can’t do if I’m using a child theme. I have some clients whose websites were built 8 or 9 years ago and doing WP and plugin updates is becoming a problem.

    Are there any reasons (other than if there is custom coding) to use a child theme as opposed the parent them?

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

  • Those updates are the reason to use a child theme. But if you have nothing specific to change for the theme you are using, then no child theme is needed. And in fact, if you have some stuff in your child theme, it’s more difficult to switch themes when you want to. Hopefully, you put any non-presentational code into a plugin, so that you can switch themes at will. And if it’s just CSS you are adding, that is easiest to do with Additional CSS, which is saved with the theme settings.

    I like to make a child theme for my clients, but it doesn’t have much in it. Perhaps a change of the parent theme’s defaults. It does provide me a place to put a screenshot of how the site should look, and the theme description can be instructions to the client.

    Thread Starter DebT

    (@debbiet)

    Thanks Joy, my intention is to no longer make changes to the code in a parent theme, so I can update the theme as they come up. WP is always updating the basic software, themes and especially plugins need to update to keep up with the changes. Or authors improve their themes. If a child theme is being used, the theme will be frozen in time. One child theme that a client is using has WooCommerce included with it. Now when WooCommerce plugins update, which happens often, I occasionally have to manually replace WC files in the theme folders because I get error messages that the pages have become outdated.

    CSS is so amazing and the Additional CSS option makes it all so much easier.

    “I like to make a child theme for my clients, but it doesn’t have much in it.”

    So then you can’t ever update the theme. You’ve not run into problems with sticking for years with an outdated theme?

    “I like to make a child theme for my clients, but it doesn’t have much in it.”

    So then you can’t ever update the theme. You’ve not run into problems with sticking for years with an outdated theme?

    You are drawing the wrong conclusion from a child theme. The whole point of having a child theme is that the parent can be updated without affecting the child. If the child has code that overlaps something in the parent, then that should be checked each time the parent updates to see if any changes are needed.
    When I make a child theme with not much in it, the parent is updated with no concern, because the child isn’t doing that much. It is a placeholder for the client to know which theme is the right one (it has an accurate screenshot, with their content) and it has a description that tells them not to delete the parent theme or whatever needs to be said. And it has my name on it, so they know who to contact when changes are wanted.

    If the child theme needs more stuff (like Woocommerce – eek!), then that’s the wrong theme. That sort of thing should be in a plugin. Anything that changes how the site works should be in a plugin, so that the theme can be easily switched.

    Thread Starter DebT

    (@debbiet)

    You are drawing the wrong conclusion from a child theme. The whole point of having a child theme is that the parent can be updated without affecting the child.

    You’re right! I guess I’ve had it the wrong way all this time. Thank you for that clarification. A broken website I’m struggling with right now appears to be just a COPY of the parent theme with heavily edited code by the previous developer.

    Moderator Jan Dembowski

    (@jdembowski)

    Forum Moderator and Brute Squad

    Moved to Fixing WordPress, this is not a Developing with WordPress topic.

    Are child themes still recommended?

    Yes. ??

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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