Child Theme question

[edhopper]

I am creating a Xtreme Child theme on my PC with wamp for later import online.
The Child theme works fine, but I am not sure if I am making changes correctly.
Most of my changes are done through the Dashboard with the Child theme active, so those should be fine.
But a few like removing the Search in the header and changes to the Footer, I did through code.
I am not sure if I did this correctly (the changes did work). I copied the header and footer php files into the Child folder and then made changes there.
There were several warnings about not changing the files in the Parent folder.
I am a WordPress novice, and can follow instructions from the internet, but don’t know CSS code.
I am really not sure how this Child theme works and what files the changes are made in.
I assume I have to upload both the parent Theme and my Child theme from my PC when I move online.

Thanks for the help I am sure i will have MANY more questions.

[scrambler]

I will let weaver answer the child theme questions, but you may want to explain what exact modifications you needed you decided to create the child theme for, as a lot can be done just with the Xtreme Options (like removing the search) and custom CSS.

[edhopper]

This is my first WP site. I have another site that I do with WYSIWYG Essentials, so i am new to this.

I read a few times while setting up that it is pru8dent to create a child site so I do not loose changes if the theme is updated. Then make the changes to the child theme.

If this is not the case and i should just modify the Xtreme theme, that would be easier.

The changes so far was getting rid of the Search in the Title Site line in the Header and changing the “Proudly presented by” in the footer) both done by copying the php into the child folder and changing the code there.

I just saw where i can hide the search, thanks for that.

So my main question is, do I need a Child Theme. Are the warnings about resets when the Theme is updated not true for Weaver?

[scrambler]

Weaver Xtreme is one of the most customizable theme you can find.

It has a lot of options and a lot of ways to go beyond the options to do more advanced things all from within the theme Admin.

All these changes survive updates. The need for a child them with weaver Xtreme is only if you need some very advanced modification that absolutely require php template editing. But 99% of the time, there will be a solution without resorting to that.

It is true that if you ever do need to make php template modifications, then the proper way to do them would be using a child theme, as you should never edit theme files.

But take the time to explore all the theme options, and read the threads in the Weaver X Tutorials and hints section of this forum. You can also visit the demo site here: http://demo.weavertheme.com/  

If you cannot find how to achieve something, ask on this forum, providing a link to your site and being specific about what you need to modify, and most likely we will have a solution for you that does not involve a child theme.

If you need to change the  Site Copiright / proudly line at the bottom of the footer, You can simply hide the proudly part with the check box in Main options > Footer > Site Copyright section, and rebuilt your own custom bottom line in the box available there

[edhopper]

Thanks, that will make it easier. I’ll just work with the Xtreme Theme and delete the Child.

I am sure I will have more questions, this was very helpful.

[drwool]

I want to make a child them so I can incorporate a customized version of one of the PHP templates. I tried making the child the way you would ordinarily make a child theme:  added a folder in wp-content/themes named weaver-xtreme-child, and created a style.css file with this in it:

/*
Theme Name: Weaver Xtreme Child
Author: David R. Woolley
Author URI: http://thinkofit.com/drwool
Template: weaver-xtreme
Version: 1.0.0
License: GNU General Public License V2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gp1-2.0.html
Text Domain: weaver-xtreme-child
*/

That’s it.

It worked, sort of – but when I preview or activate the theme, I get the wrong header image (the mountain image that seems to be the default with Xtreme) and the main menubar doesn’t show the menu I created, but instead just shows all the pages that exist on the site. I suppose I could go back and redo the header image and the menu, but why is this necessary? Am I missing something?

Since creating a child theme for Weaver Xtreme apparently doesn’t work quite like making a child theme for other themes, it would be nice if you could document exactly what steps are required to make it work.

[drwool]

Nevermind, I now see that the same thing happens when making a child of any theme.

Has it always been this way with WordPress?  I seem to remember making a child theme a couple years ago and not running into this issue.

[scrambler]

As far as I know and it is annoying as you also lose widget distribution, custom menu allocations etc…

[Author]

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