How to Develop a Theme and Child Theme the Right Way

In WordPress, your choice of themes decides how a website looks. If you want to change fonts, font sizes, images, colors, and so on, you’ll have to tweak the theme. 

But what if you want to change some parts of the theme but still have the ability to retain the look of the original theme? It’s probably happened to you before. You just want to try some things, but you’re not sure if you’ll be happy with the changes you make.

Well, that’s where child themes come in. Using child themes, you can alter your core theme without directly affecting it. 

Still confused, but want to find out more? Don’t worry—that’s what this article is for. Keep reading to find out how WordPress themes differ from child themes, the right ways to use them, and WordPress and child theme development best practices.

WordPress Theme Vs. WordPress Child Theme

Believe it or not, WordPress themes are different from WordPress child themes—and not just because of the word “child” placed at the start. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

What is a WordPress theme?

Ever wonder why different WordPress websites have different styles and layouts? Yes, that’s because of the choice of the website owner. But the appearance is also determined by the owner’s choice of WordPress themes. 

Think of it this way: if you have a car, WordPress is its engine, running everything behind the scenes. The theme is the paint color, the design of the wheels, and even the style of the seats. It gives your website its unique look and vibe.

There are many themes out there, from free ones to ones you can buy—you can even do custom WordPress theme development! Each one offers different designs and features, so choose one that fits your brand’s personality, identity, and purpose.

Of course, aside from having a good appearance, your WordPress theme should also give your website visitors a good experience. They shouldn’t have difficulty navigating from one section to another or looking for what to do next. Otherwise, you should change your theme, or at least tweak it to make it more easy to use.

Speaking of tweaking…

What is a WordPress child theme?

A WordPress child theme, on the other hand, is a type of theme that duplicates the functionality and styling of the theme you’re currently using or basically an original theme. This original theme can also be called the parent theme. You use child themes to make changes such as additions or subtractions to the parent theme, but without altering the original theme’s code. 

This also means that if you need to update your WordPress parent theme, any changes you make there will not affect the child theme.

Aside from not affecting the original theme and having all your changes intact despite updates, one more advantage of having a child theme is that you have a safe way of experimenting and customizing a theme. There won’t be any permanent consequences, especially since the parent theme will be intact.

Comparing Child Theme Development and WordPress Theme Development

Now, both WordPress parent themes and child themes are important for any WordPress site, but because they serve different roles, WordPress theme development differs from child theme development. Let’s take a look at how they’re distinct.

WordPress Theme Development

Creating a theme from scratch means you should know WordPress coding conventions, PHP, HTML, CSS, and sometimes even JavaScript. Start with a design mockup and then translate it into a theme by coding templates and stylesheets.

Child Theme Development

Instead of starting from scratch, if you want to make a child theme, you will begin with an existing parent theme. You’ll then have to create a new directory for the child theme and add files such as style.css and functions.php, where custom codes can be added. Only the changes or overrides are included in these files, keeping your development process streamlined and focused.

Key Differences

To sum up the difference in how they’re made:

• WordPress themes are developed from scratch, while child themes are made from existing parent themes. In other words, parent theme development is about building a foundational design and functionality, while child theme development is more about customizing that foundation.
• Creating a theme, especially a custom one, can be a complex task requiring more than basic development skills. On the other hand, child themes can often be made with a more focused skill set since you’re already using an existing framework.
• WordPress themes can be installed and activated directly from the WordPress admin dashboard. You’ll have to create child themes manually. That’s the time you can activate it in your WordPress dashboard.
• When you update your parent WordPress theme, any customizations directly made on it will be lost. However, when you update a child theme, any changes you make to the child theme won’t be touched.

Common Theme and Child Theme Development Mistakes

Even if you’re a very experienced developer, you can still sometimes overlook certain aspects of theme and child theme development. This can lead to potential issues that can disrupt your workflow. Watch out for these common mistakes in developing each kind of theme

Common WordPress Theme Development Mistakes

• Nowadays, more people are looking at websites through their mobile devices. If you don’t make a theme that’s responsive, this can lead to users having bad website experiences on their tablets and smartphones.
• Hardcoding means embedding something permanently into your code, which means your code won’t be flexible. This can lead to issues when changing your domain site or moving from local development to a live server.
• To provide users with an optimal website experience, it’s tempting to load it with numerous features. However, too much can weigh down your site and reduce its speed.
• No matter your native language, you should not forget to make your theme translation-ready, or however else you can make it accessible to people worldwide.
• Do not forget to follow WordPress standards. Ignoring them can lead to your theme having compatibility issues and make it harder for you to maintain with each new WordPress update. 
• One more mistake you should avoid is not testing before launching. You never know, your theme might not appear the same in all browsers, or it might have a security issue. You might be bombarded with angry messages, or your theme will be avoided altogether. So… test!

Common Child Theme Development Mistakes

• One common mistake is forgetting there’s a child theme. Remember, its purpose is to allow changes without altering the parent theme. Modifying the parent theme directly defeats this purpose.
• Sometimes, you can forget to add styles the right way. And if you don’t set up the main theme’s style correctly, it can mess up the look of the child theme.
• You should also remember this: instead of copying an entire template file into the child theme, it’s often better to use hooks or filters to modify specific parts, keeping the child theme lightweight.
• Sometimes, you might be tempted to make too many changes in the parent theme functions or styles that you’ll apply in the child theme. This can make the child theme harder to manage and update.
• Always pay attention to the latest parent theme updates. You might miss out on bug fixes, new features, or even compatibility adjustments.
• Again, don’t forget to test. Failing to do so can also result in bugs or conflicts when you combine your child theme with the parent theme.

General Mistakes For Both

• Do not use insecure code. Not following theme development best practices can leave your theme vulnerable to attacks, which won’t be good for you or your reputation.
• Always optimize for the best performance. Not doing so can lead to slow-loading themes, slow websites, and a poor user experience.
• Don’t forget to provide clear documentation for your theme. Skipping this step can make it difficult for others—even fellow developers—to understand your theme and make any changes.
• Lastly, don’t forget to back up your theme regularly. This will help you to restore your theme if something goes wrong.

Things to Remember While Developing a Theme 

In no particular order, here are some WordPress theme development best practices to ensure success:

• Set up a local development environment or a WordPress sandbox such as InstaWP. This is a place where you can test and develop your theme without affecting your live website.
• Start with, well, a starter theme such as Underscores and Sage. These are great foundations for developing your own theme.
• Brush up your knowledge about the different components of a WordPress theme, including template files, stylesheets, and JavaScript files. It’s important to understand the purpose of each file before you start developing your theme.
• Use a theme development framework with features like template tags, hooks, and functions. This way, you’re guided when working and don’t get lost.
• Optimize for speed. As much as possible, avoid installing plenty of plugins for customization that may affect your site speed. Code Snippets helps you with this by reducing the need for plugins and widgets and letting you add snippets instead which will enhance website performance. 
• As mentioned above, make sure that your theme is responsive to all device sizes and looks the same in all browsers.
• Don’t use outdated plugins to ensure security.
• Follow WordPress standards so you can update your theme easily and so that it’s compatible with all WordPress sites.   
• Test your theme before deploying, and provide clear documentation for users that include features, installation steps, and customization options.
• Don’t forget to back up your theme and use Git and other version control systems for tracking and changes and easier collaboration.
• Also, when you’ve released your theme, consider user feedback to improve your theme further.

Things to Remember While Developing a Child Theme 

Now, let’s get to child theme development best practices:

• Before creating a child theme, you should choose a good parent theme since it’s the foundation for your child theme. Get a parent theme that is well-maintained and has a good reputation.
• Familiarize yourself with the parent theme’s structure and functionalities. This way, you can make sure you copy the correct things from the parent theme and maintain design consistency and functionality.
• Remember that the purpose of a child theme is to enable customization without altering the parent theme. Only make changes in the child theme, not the parent theme.
• Keep your site structure clean and organized. This will make your updates and modifications easier. Document your changes as well for easier troubleshooting.
• Don’t duplicate all parent theme files in the child theme. Only override the CSS code and template files that you need to change. This will keep your child theme small and easy to maintain.
• Always back up your child theme, so you have a safety if anything goes wrong.
• Just like with parent themes, follow WordPress coding standards for better compatibility and easy maintenance.
• Update the parent theme always and check out your parent theme Also as with parent themes, test it thoroughly, especially if you’ve updated the parent theme. You can use InstaWP again for this step.
• Follow WordPress standards to ensure compatibility across future WordPress versions and themes and plugins.

Of course, if you’d rather not use a child theme or find it a bit complicated, you can try installing Code Snippets instead. Test it out on your website as well via InstaWP, and see if you like it!

Importance of Theme and Child Theme Testing 

You might have noticed that this article mentions testing plenty of times. Is it really that important? Well, yes, it is.

After all, you need to ensure that these themes function as intended. Testing doesn’t just identify bugs or errors. It practically guarantees that the theme performs optimally across different environments, ensuring a delightful user experience. 

Here are more reasons why testing is crucial:

• It’s vital to check that themes work well with different WordPress versions, plugins, and integrations. Plus, you can also remove functions that are no longer recommended.
• Testing also ensures that your theme design looks consistent everywhere, which is important for brand identity.
• Testing also identifies bloated code or inefficient queries, which helps make your site speed and performance better.
• Sadly, themes can be entry points for unscrupulous activities. Testing can uncover vulnerabilities that hackers might exploit in your theme.
• It’s always better to identify and fix issues before you take your theme live rather than addressing them post-launch. Fixing issues after the launch can be more time-consuming and detrimental to user experience and your business.
• Proper theme structure and functionality can actually influence SEO. Testing ensures themes are coded correctly and don’t negatively impact your site’s search engine rankings.
• Testing verifies that all customizations work smoothly without causing issues, especially for child themes.
• Testing also ensures you’re better prepared for future WordPress updates and shifts in web technology.

In short, testing equals a reliable, efficient, and secure digital experience for your website visitors and theme users. So don’t forget to test! And don’t forget to test in a staging environment like InstaWP to keep your original website safe.

How to Test Your Creation Correctly? 

Testing WordPress themes and child themes is easy with InstaWP—and you won’t have to be afraid of messing up your original website at all. Here’s how to use InstaWP after signing up for an account and testing a theme or child theme on your original website.

Go to your WordPress Dashboard, go to plugins, and search for InstaWP Connect.

Install and activate it. You’ll be taken to this screen:

Click Create Site. You will then be prompted to connect your InstaWP account to your WordPress account.

Press the Connect button and you’ll be taken to your InstaWP dashboard with this notice:

Press Approve, and InstaWP will take you back to your WordPress Dashboard with a new menu:

Here, you can make a copy of your original website. If you want to really test the theme capabilities on your actual site, make sure to do a full staging of your site. Press Next Step, and you’ll arrive here:

It’s recommended to install only active plugins and themes. However, you can also just opt to not have any theme copied since you do want to test a theme, right? The next step also lets you exclude any files you may not want to be copied.

Finally, you’ll be taken to this screen to confirm the action:

Press Create Staging and your staging site will appear in your InstaWP Dashboard. 

You can now use it like any WordPress site! Upload your theme, create a child theme, and test as much as you want. It’s that easy with InstaWP.

Conclusion

Themes dictate a website’s appearance, but sometimes, when you want to make changes without altering the theme’s original look, that’s where child themes come into play. You can make changes and modifications without impacting the core theme. Understanding how they differ from one another and the roles they play is important.

Developing either type of theme isn’t without its challenges. There are common mistakes to avoid, like neglecting responsiveness or modifying the parent theme directly. To ensure success, adhere to theme development best practices, such as choosing a solid parent theme for child theme development or testing thoroughly in a staging site like InstaWP. 

Through diligent testing, you can ensure optimal performance, security, and compatibility, guaranteeing a positive user experience.

Happy developing and testing!