WordPress Child Theme Basics 3) Template overwriting
Example
The most common usage of a child theme is to override template parts. For example, a sidebar, if we have a theme with the following file at
/themes/template/sidebar.php
<?php
/**
* The sidebar containing the main widget area.
*
* @link https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-files/#template-partials
*/
if ( ! is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
return;
}?>
<div id="sidebar" class="widget-area">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>
</div>
We can definitely add our own file in child theme (with the specifications from the first example) with the following file
/themes/child-theme/sidebar.php
<?php
/**
* The sidebar containing the main widget area.
*/
if ( ! is_active_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ) ) {
return;
}?>
<div id="my-sidebar" class="my-own-awesome-class widget-area">
<div class="my-wrapper">
<?php dynamic_sidebar( 'sidebar-1' ); ?>
</div>
</div>
Now my-own-awesome-class is safe in child theme and it won't be removed at any theme update and WordPress will always choose a template from child themes when it does find one on the same path.
