What is a WordPress Child Theme

WordPress child themes are a cool way of being able to customize the theme without the worry of losing these customizations upon updating the theme. WordPress child theme customizations cannot be lost.

Whenever a theme is updated, all of the customizations that have happened to the core files will be over written. This is just a common occurrence in software updates, where the whole set of core files is updated no matter what the update is.

If you’re using a theme directly, you may want to think twice about updating the theme. At least make sure that you have a backup of the website before you update the theme, as you may lose a lot of customizations.

However, if you use a WordPress child theme, then all of the customizations will stay in place. This can be very handy for development purposes and is recommended way to build on WordPress if you’re going to customize the theme.

Here at SkyPoint Studios, we run this website on a child theme due to the amount of customizations that have been done. We also create our own custom themes as well. Custom themes can rank better in search due to the fact they’re not replicating any code that other websites are using.

The more code and content that matches and is similar to other websites, the less interest from search engines and won’t do as well in search ranking. So it is encouraged to have a child theme as well as custom theme when doing competitive WordPress websites.

Have a question about how to get a child theme set up on your WordPress website? I’d be glad to show you the ropes! Drop a line on my contact page and I’ll get a hold of you soon as possible.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 326 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.