Child or toolbox

Oenology is not a child theme, but one could use it as a parent and make a child theme if that’s what you mean.

Of course. Let me re-phrase. Is this considered an exisiting theme like TwentyTwelve? or a base them like Toolbox? If it’s meant to be like a Toolbox them then it’s pointless to create a child theme for it. Know what I mean?

Yes, I know what you mean.
It’s more like TwentyTwelve and not like Toolbox.

Thanks Christine!

Just catching up with support threads…

Oenology is actually a bit of a balance between an unstyled Theme like Toolbox, and a turnkey Theme like Twenty Twelve. Oenology has plenty of template hooks and custom filters to enable you to modify almost everything, but does make some basic layout assumptions.

It comes with several color schemes (called “varietals”), one of which, Cuvee, would be suitable for completely re-skinning the Theme, as it defines a minimum amount of CSS. (Though, the “varietals” are also extensible via custom filters, as well.)

Basically, let me know how you’d like to extend/modify Oenology, and I’ll try to show you how to do it.

Let’s say I try out ‘varietals’ and I will be editing the php files such as functions and the content. Shouldn’t I create a child theme for this? Will you be releasing updates? I just don’t want the theme to break in the future which is why I ask this 1 question. Is it better for this theme to use a child theme or modify directly?

I do release fairly frequent updates (every few months or so).

The best way to customize a Theme like Oenology is either via Child Theme, or via custom Plugin. (If all you’re doing is writing filter/hook callbacks, a Plugin is an easier/better route than using a Child Theme, IMHO.)

Do you have any specific examples of things you would envision changing/customizing?