Hi there,

I am new to wordpress and just working on a website (Webshop with WooCommerce). I removed certain elements of my theme + WooCommerce by using the "Simple Custom CSS" plugin. However, now I read some (rather old) articles that I should create a child theme when making custom changes of the appearance because otherwise my changes will be lost after updates (to keep everything updated is crucial for me).

Contrary to this, I came across recent articles which say that I dont need a child theme if I use a custom css plugin (e.g. Simple Custom CSS) for making those changes.

Im a little confused now. Could someone confirm which of the 2 stories is correct? Thank you.

It’s always a good idea to have a child theme (or why not your own theme - there are plenty of starter themes available which make it easy to build your own) as it will give you full control over the content, style and behaviour of your site.

I haven’t used Simple custom css. Seems like its purpose is to allow you to add custom styles to override plugins and theme’s default styles - sounds like a mess to me.

I’d personally chose to build my own theme.

You might find this article useful - https://torquemag.io/2018/04/wordpress-starter-themes/

There are a few links to starter themes.

hth

 

 

Edited February 20, 20197 yr by teodora

You don't need to use a plugin for the custom CSS. All themes now have a customiser 'Additional CSS' option.

But as @teodora suggests, a child theme is a much better way to do this. You can then use hooks and filters to disable woo features in your functions.php file or edit styles.css.

This means the main theme and woo can update but you keep all your customization.

On 2/21/2019 at 9:21 AM, fisicx said:

This means the main theme and woo can update but you keep all your customization. 

And this also applies if I use "additional CSS/Custom CSS plugin"?

Yes but you don't need a plugin. Every time you add a plugin you affect performance.

Which is why a child theme is the better option all round

I was just about to set up a child theme and learned that my theme is actually already a child theme of another theme. I downloaded my theme like this via wordpress.

Does that mean i can treat my theme like a child theme and all customization will stay after updates?

Edited February 26, 20197 yr by Brandon95