Child Theme

Child themes are separate themes that rely on a parent theme for most of their functionality. If you are using a child theme, WordPress checks your child theme first to see if a specific functionality exists. If it doesn’t, it uses the parent theme. This allows you to modify only what you need.

If you plan to edit the theme files, like style.css or a template, make your changes in a child theme. They stay there, so you can update Alchemists in the future without losing them.

Creating the child theme

1. On your computer, create a folder named alchemists-child.
2. In it, create a file named style.css with the header below.
3. Next to it, create a file named functions.php for your PHP code (below).
4. Zip the alchemists-child folder, upload it in Appearance → Themes → Add New Theme → Upload Theme (Alchemists must be installed too) and activate it.

style.css

/*
Theme Name: Alchemists Child Theme
Description: Child theme for the Alchemists WordPress theme
Version: 1.0.0
Template: alchemists
*/

functions.php

<?php

// add your code here

Alchemists loads the child theme’s style.css by itself, so your CSS works right away, and the child theme uses the same Theme Options. WordPress keeps menu locations per theme, so after activating the child theme check Appearance → Menus → Manage Locations.

More about child themes and how to use them: Child Themes.