Will i lose all my settings if i install the child theme now?

  • ablushingbeauty

    #6669

    I am VERY new to css and am learning as i go so bare with me…

    I uploaded my blogs from wordpress.com to my new wordpress.org, so i basically started over. I have installed Graphene into my wordpress, and have set most of the colors i wanted. But now i am seeing a lot of people recommending the Graphene child-theme? I did all the steps to install the child-theme however i am worried i will lose all my settings by activating it?

    Can anyone tell me if i should or should not activate the Graphene child theme? I need to change the fonts, font colors and would like to have custom buttons. Which is better to do this with?

    thanks so much!

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #35210

    A good question.

    The easy answer:

    If the only changes you want to make to your site are ones that you can make via the theme’s settings (of which there are many), then just stick with using the theme’s built-in settings and call it good.

    However, if you wish to make changes to your theme that aren’t available through the theme’s settings, then you’ll need to use a child theme.

    In either case, you should never alter the theme files themselves.

    The not-so-easy answer:

    It depends. You can make a lot of changes via the theme’s settings, but those changes get added as additional css to each page that loads. If you’ve only made a few changes, that doesn’t add much to your site’s load times. (The same thing happens with the custom css function.) If you start making extensive changes through the theme settings, or adding a lot of custom css, it can slow down your site. In that case, you would want to consider using a child theme, because most of your customisations will go into a single style sheet which will be loaded once per site visit, rather than once per page load. It’s a way of speeding up your site a bit.

    The nice thing is that you don’t have to choose with Graphene. If you find that you are making a lot of changes via the theme’s options, you can always use the theme’s export function to export those changes into a custom made child theme stylesheet. (Yes, Graphene is really that cool.) So you can have the best of both worlds.

    ablushingbeauty

    #35211

    I guess i just want to know which would be better? Im sorry im so new to this. The only things i want to change are the fonts (keeping one font style for post titles, one font for content), colors, custom background and custom buttons (favicon?). I started to change the colors in the graphene settings already, however Im reading things saying that when the theme upgrades, i will lose all my settings unless i have the child theme? Is that correct?

    Because i am new to css i find it much easier to make the changes under graphene settings but i want to make sure i do not have to do all this again? If you or anyone could steer me in the right directing id be oh so greatful! 🙂

    thanks again

    my site is http://www.ablushingbeauty.com

    Mod

    Kenneth John Odle

    #35212

    You should not lose any theme settings when you upgrade. You can always export your theme settings first before you upgrade, just in case something unusual happens.

    Quote:
    i will lose all my settings unless i have the child theme? Is that correct?

    To be exact, you will lose any changes you have made directly to theme files. This is why we recommend that you leave theme files alone, and make all changes via a child theme or theme settings (or a combination of the two).

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.