Did you know that you can create an Astra Child theme and install it on your WordPress website in under 5 minutes? For this follow the steps shown in this article.
But, before that let us understand what is a child theme and why do you need a child theme in WordPress?
In WordPress, a child theme is a secondary theme that inherits the functionality and styling of its parent theme, which is usually a pre-designed or purchased theme. Child themes are used for several important reasons:
- Preserving Customizations: When you customize your WordPress website by modifying its code or styles directly in the original theme, those changes can be overwritten when the theme receives an update. Child themes act as a protective layer, ensuring that your customizations remain intact even when the parent theme is updated.
- Maintaining theme compatibility: WordPress themes receive updates to fix bugs, improve security, and add new features. By using a child theme, you can safely update the parent theme without worrying about breaking your site’s functionality.
- Easy debugging: If you encounter issues or bugs on your website, it’s easier to troubleshoot and locate the issue when you have a child theme. You can compare the child theme’s code to the parent theme’s code to identify any changes or conflicts that may be causing the problem.
- Development Flexibility: Child themes provide a structured way to modify the appearance and functionality of your website. You can add custom CSS, JavaScript, templates, and functions specific to your needs without making changes to the original theme files.
- Efficiency: Creating a child theme is more efficient than starting from scratch. You can build on the foundation of an existing theme, saving time and effort in designing and coding your website.
To create a child theme, you typically need to:
- Create a new directory for your child theme in the WordPress themes directory.
- Create a style.css file in the child theme directory and specify the parent theme in the header of the file using the template field.
- Alternatively, create a functions.php file in the child theme directory to add custom functions or modify existing functions.
- Activate the child theme in the WordPress dashboard.
Once a child theme is activated, you can make customizations to the CSS, templates, and functions within the child theme directory, ensuring that your changes are independent of the parent theme.
Using child themes is a best practice in WordPress development, as it helps maintain the stability and integrity of your website while allowing you to customize it according to your specific needs.
How to Create a Child Theme for Astra?
Let’s see how you can create an Astra child theme for your WordPress website.
Use the Astra Child Theme Generator: There’s a helpful tool called the Astra Child Theme Generator that makes this process easier. You can find it online. You can find it on the official Astra Theme website.
If you want a basic child theme, simply enter the desired theme name and click the “Generate” button. The tool will fill in other details for you like theme description, author, website URL, and a screenshot. You do not need to do anything else.
Advanced options: If you want more control, you can enter additional details:
- Child Theme Name: Type the name you want for your child theme.
- Child theme version: Enter a version number for your child theme (you can use any number you like).
- Author: Enter your name or your organization’s name.
- Author URL: Add the URL of your website.
- Description: Write a short description of what your topic is about.
- Folder name: Set a name for the theme’s folder.
- Screenshot: Choose an image to represent your child’s theme. Its size should be less than 1 MB and its dimensions should be 1200 pixels by 900 pixels.
Generate Child Theme: After entering the details, click on “Generate” button. This will prepare your child’s theme. You can then download it to your computer. Now, you can upload this child theme to your WordPress website or use it for local development.
Creating a child theme allows you to customize your Astra theme without worrying about losing your changes when Astra is updated. This is a smart way to make your WordPress website your own.
How to Install Astra Child Theme in WordPress?
To install the Astra Child theme, simply go to Appearance > Themes and upload the theme file. (You can see the screenshot below)
Once uploaded activate the new child theme.
Now you will see both themes and the child theme will work only if the parent theme is installed on your WordPress website.
You will not notice any changes to the existing style of your website. This will let you add code to the theme file without the risk of losing changes during a theme update.
You have now learned how to create a child theme for Astra and install it on a WordPress website. If you have any doubts, feel free to ask me in the comments section.
