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General Discussion

kasarachi ordor
kasarachi ordor
1,210 Points

Child theme

When installing WordPress, you have two options, 1 click install or the famous 5 mins install. With the 1 click install, you have no business with the FileZilla application which is what i used but if you want to make a child theme, you have to go back to FileZilla. Is there a way out of this?

10 Answers

Trent Burkenpas
Trent Burkenpas
22,388 Points

Yeah, you have to use FileZilla. But sometimes your hosting company will have a file manager application. None the less you have to use some sort of program to upload your files.

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

One Click Child Theme
Disclaimer: if you plan to do any serious child themeing, I would highly suggest you get use to the FTP side of things.

kasarachi ordor
kasarachi ordor
1,210 Points

Which is? I am sorry, i am taking my time to understand the whole vision with WordPress. Is creating child theme compulsory? When i installed WordPress using the 1 click install, it did not download on my pc so how do i now used FileZilla?

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

kasarachi ordor , No problem. It's good to take your time to understand. No creating a child theme is not required. However there are many benefits:
-First, there's space. If you have a theme, and then you want to create a version of that theme where the background on every page is red. Then copying all those files for that theme, just to have a red version is quite a lot of space taken up on your server.

-Second, what if the theme author created an update for the theme (many premium themes do this). How are you going to track your changes to know what to redo in the updated version, especially when it comes to modifying templates and functions. For some modifications, this could take many hours to fix on the updated theme.

-Third speed. To copy a theme directory can take more than a couple minutes on your server. Then the speed factor for developing the site. If I'm changing CSS, I'd much rather look for the styles I updated in the 100 lines of custom css, than the thousands for the parent theme.

As for the one click install. The one click install is helpful because not only does it install the files, but it also automatically creates your database and database user, and sets up your wp-config. You press one button and presto you have a WP installation. You can then either use as is, or login via FTP and view your files and/or make changes (like uploading a child theme).

Technically you never have to download the WP files to your local machine if you don't plan on developing locally and always developing on the FTP (we call that commando or cowboy because you are risking breaking your site if you don't test your files before updating to your live site).

I think there is another way around to work on child themes. The thing is that in teamtreehouse we are instructed to use FileZilla but what about if we want to work on child themes whit dreamweaver on local host? I think that we need to know the whole spectrum how to work with child themes.

kasarachi ordor
kasarachi ordor
1,210 Points

I would like to know this other side if you don't mind.

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

Ed. By learning to do it through FTP (FileZilla is just an FTP client, you could use any FTP method you want) you are learning the whole spectrum. You are learning the folder structure for Wordpress and your theme directory, how to initialize a child theme, and how to create the files that override your parent theme's templates and css. That's pretty much all there is to a child theme, that is the full spectrum.

If you want to use Dreamweaver to edit your child theme files, that's cool. Just study how to use the FTP built in to Dreamweaver and you can apply the same basics that you learn here to that. They obviously cannot show how to install a child theme using every development environment and FTP client out there, so they teach you the foundation so that you can build upon that and apply it to the environment you may be working on.

Child theme in Dreamweaver

Trent Burkenpas
Trent Burkenpas
22,388 Points

You can work locally, that's what I did. But you still have to upload the files eventually through a FTP. I think lol

I think that at end of our job with child themes, it can be uploaded using FTP, no only from FileZilla but from other medium.

Kasarchi, you can follow the instructions from one of the courses here from teamtreehouse, (how to make website with wordpress), create your local data base with MAMP/Apple or WAMP/windows, stop at the point where you are instructed to download FileZilla, and here is where you need to look around for editors, Sublime Text, TextMate, Coda, Dreamweaver or other editor and work in conjuntion with your browser. Teamtreehouse needs to instructed in the use of all the way on how to create child themes. Few minutes ago I send an email suggesting an specific course on how to create child themes using all avenues in that subject.

kasarachi ordor
kasarachi ordor
1,210 Points

Thank you so much! Would try..

kasarachi ordor
kasarachi ordor
1,210 Points

Thanks guys, I appreciate. I need more study then, would go through all your suggestions.

Andrew, the foundation learning here is excellent. But when you are directing your instructions you have a lot of level of knowledges, from the pre-schoolers to the advance genius. We are pre-schoolers that want to learn from 1+1. Certainly, they instruct us the foundation but the foundation have some cracks, for example, how to use FileZilla? How to use Sublime Text, how to work in a local host environment?

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

I understand what you are saying. There is some expectation that you will know how to use the software you choose to use. For example, I never use Sublime Text, however I learned how to use my chosen editor before attempting courses here. Just like you mentioned Dreamweaver, which isn't even mentioned or used in the courses here. The courses aren't teaching the software rather the subject like Wordpress, php, etc.

I promise I'm not trying to be facetious just want to see how far the trail could go. What about explaining how to install the program, use the OS, use your browser? They have to focus on the material and what is the main focus.

Again, not saying that your point doesn't hold any water, but there is some responsibility on that of the student.

Yes. You are right. By the way I watch your video on you tube. Excellent. Very Basic. I am using sublime-text and dreamweaver and I get some functionalities and I stuck in others. I am pretty new in this web matters. That's why my "dummies" expectations. In another subject, Andrew, I have to deal with one bug in Dreamweaver and may be you can help me. I don't know if it possible to mention here due to this forum was addressed in another subject. That bug is related with DW

Andrew McCormick
Andrew McCormick
17,730 Points

Ed, go ahead and start a new topic in the forum for your Dreamweaver question, there are probably others who may be using it or have same problem. I think we've hijacked kasarachi's post enough.. LOL

OK. I have followed all instructions how to config. Localhost through MAMP and MySQL. Step by Step very carefully. When I working on child themes in DW, the index file connected directly form the root site (DW config site) works pretty well. But when I working on the themes from WP reside in my local computer and monitoring on my localhost, DW doesn't read the dynamic files. For example, I copy the index.php from the parent file to my child folder, when I click it the copy of that index.php this message pop up "Dynamically-ralated files could not be resolved because of an internal server error". if I go back to the same parent index.php, which is the same that is in the root of the DW site, no error is displayed. What generates that error, how to fix it? or do I did something wrong?