You may have heard the term 'child theme' used in reference to making changes to your Semplice files. This article will explain what child themes are, and how you can install your own.
What are child themes?
Child themes work in conjunction with your main Semplice site files. They allow you to modify Semplice site files without overwriting the original Semplice site files. Child themes also ensure your modifications to Semplice site files are not overwritten when updating Semplice.
You should only install a child theme if you intend on adding custom development to your site and wish to modify Semplice site files.
If you simply wish to add custom CSS stylings or Javascript to your site, we recommend adding this custom code right in Semplice in the backend. Don't worry, custom code added in Semplice will not be overwritten when updating Semplice. Learn more about adding custom CSS or Javascript.
Installing a child theme
Included in your Semplice theme folder is a zip file containing a child version of your theme. It should be named 'semplice5-child-theme' or something similar, depending on your version. You can install and activate the child version of Semplice contained in this zip file exactly like you would Semplice.
Once the child version of Semplice is installed and activated, you should see a new folder on your server alongside your Semplice site file folder. It should be called 'semplice5-child', or something similar depending on your version.
Managing and modifying the child theme files
You can now copy site files from your original Semplice install into the new child version folder. Modifications made to these files will now be added seamlessly on top of your original site files.
For example, if you create a new instance of 'blog.php' file in the child version folder and make changes to it, these changes will be applied on top of your original Semplice files.
You can delete your child theme files at any time to non-destructively return to your original, unmodified Semplice site files.
Lastly, there's a handly little plugin we recommend called Child Theme Configurator if you wish to have a nice visual interface for managing child theme modifications.