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WordPress

Jeremy Frimond
Jeremy Frimond
14,470 Points
Posted by Jeremy Frimond
Jeremy Frimond
14,470 Points

Is a Child Theme Needed?

If I take an existing theme and make significant changes to the CSS in the editor section will I lose my work when the theme is updated? Therefore, is it good practice or not necessary to crete a child theme and do all my changes to the CSS in the editor of that one?

4 Answers

Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
9,152 Points
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
9,152 Points

If you are using an existing theme and editing the files i would strongly advice to create a child theme, you may get lucky but chances are once an update happens if will ruin your theme. I believe this is always the recommended way.

From experiences myself of creating a theme!

Matt Campbell
Matt Campbell
9,767 Points
Matt Campbell
Matt Campbell
9,767 Points

Any theme or plugin that updates, overwrites all the files regardless of whether or not they're files that are being changed so, if you edit anything in something you download, if and when it updates, you'll lose the changes.

When making ANY changes to a downloaded theme, ALWAYS use a child theme.

James Gill
PLUS
James Gill
Courses Plus Student 34,936 Points
James Gill
James Gill
Courses Plus Student 34,936 Points

Jeremy,

Yes, theme updates will overwrite your changes. Either create a child theme, or make a copy of your CSS file before updating, then drop it back into the theme directory. Best practice: make a child theme.