I might be working on a presentation for the #IEWP general meetup next Tuesday
#IEWP Presentation Prep
1978’s Commander Adama will be overseeing today’s advance preparation for an upcoming Introduction to Child Themes.
- Introduction to a Child Theme
- Stylesheet setup
- Functions.php setup
- Using the Template Hierarchy
- Practical Examples
He’s added a few of his own priorities but I don’t think I’ll be much help in the field of fleet operations and logistics.
- Where am I going to find cigars for Starbuck?
- Writing a thank you note to Colonel Tigh isn’t really my expertise.
- I personally like Apollo but I have no authority to promote anyone.
- Lt. Athena’s classroom budget could use a bump.
Create outline in pocket notebook
List priorities to cover in each area
#hackwpcli day
July 20 is #hackwpcli day and to celebrate this occasion I decided to only post to my personal blog via WP-CLI. As the day continues I’ll edit this post, make adjustments and try as best I can to live in my terminal for the entire day.
I only started using WP-CLI a few days ago and quickly realized it offers far more features than just interfacing with the blog. You can perform several tasks in the database, even install another instance of WordPress. I saw a listing of commands that will you set up new templates for themes and plugins. Many of these are only practical in a testing environment but anything that speeds up the creative process is worth a look.
Why I prefer to create and customize Child Themes in WordPress
I’m overdue in listing the reasons I prefer developing Child Themes over site and page builders, so here it goes.
Child Themes receive upstream improvements from the development team, this is particularly useful when a vulerability is discovered and corrected. Providing an additional security that I can benefit from. Security patches or merely minor code improvements.
Often I’ll start using a theme and discover minor issues, generally related to my personal opinions about a feature included or missing. For instance, many themes rely on Google Fonts for their typography. Personally I like to host them on my server and reduce third party dependecies. Additionally while developing locally I can view the intended fonts even when I’m not connected to the internet.
Recently, I discovered Open Graph wasn’t supported by the Twenty Seventeen theme. I added easily added it by to my child theme and customized how it’s implemented for specific pages. For instance If I forget to add an image to my post a fallback is provided using my website’s logo. It’s a nifty little tweak that improves how my website displays on social media or in third party apps.
I’ve found that theme and project specific customizations are invaluable time savers. Using core WordPress features like Template Tags and Coniditional Tags have allowed me to customize category archives. If I want to display an author’s bio I can easily display it. WP Query allows me additional flexibility by looping in post information onto a specific template if I desire. Perfect for displaying some additional text, images, or something more complicated like a custom menu generated by a tag or category.
Simple adjustments like adding rounded edges to an image, changing the color of buttons can be done quickly by editing the Child Theme’s stylesheet.
It takes a little additional time upfront in many cases, however, supporting fewer plugins can help pay off in the long run.