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Child themes … it’s a thing … use them!  There are a lot of great articles already out there that explain what a child theme is, why you should use them and how to set one up.  This article on Smashing Magazine By Nick Schäferhoff is my go-to: How To Create And Customize A WordPress Child Theme NB: Under “When to Use a Child Theme” Nick says “So, should you always build a child theme … ? No, it really depends.” … I disagree … I think you should always use a child theme.
 
As great as Nick’s article is though, I thought I’d give you a condensed, step by step process to simplify it even further, for next time.  I do suggest you read up on child themes first so you know what/why you’re setting one up, and that article from Smashing Mag is a great place to start.
 
Once you’ve got your head around that, here’s the cut-down version for quick reference (I’ll use the same headings so you can refer back to the original article for more info at any time): NB: I usually work with offline files, then load them via FTP to the webserver.  Nick has a great suggestion to zip the theme folder then install it like a normal theme via the WordPress Theme menu … gold!
 

Set Up A Basic Child Theme

“… a child theme needs three things: its own folder, a style sheet and a functions.php file.”

Create a Folder in wp-content/themes

• It can be called anything, but no spaces – something like “twentyfifteen-child” will work, and so would “myawesomewebsite”.

Create a Style Sheet

• Create a new text file and call it “style.css” (you can use any text editor or you can be fancy and use Dreamweaver … do not under any circumstances use Word!)
• Paste the style sheet header as follows:

  /*
   Theme Name: Twenty Fifteen Child Theme
   Description: A child theme of the Twenty Fifteen default WordPress theme
   Author: Nick Schäferhoff
   Template: twentyfifteen
   Version: 1.0.0
  */

Activate Child Theme

• Skip this step for now!

Create functions.php

• Same as the Style Sheet, just create a text file and call it “functions.php” (these files are of course created in the theme folder we created earlier “wp-content/themes/myawesomewebsite/functions.php”
• Copy the following code into the file (yep, that’s PHP … don’t worry, you don’t need to fully understand PHP to get this going, trust me!):

<?php
//* Code goes here

Inherit Parent Styles

•  DON’T use the @import method … (this is the one thing I don’t like about the article, this is the old way of doing things so in my humble opinion, why mention it at all?!)
• DO use the wp_enqueue_style() method … copy this code into your functions.php file (underneath the other bits we just pasted):

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'enqueue_parent_styles' );
function enqueue_parent_styles() {
 wp_enqueue_style( 'parent-style', get_template_directory_uri().'/style.css' );
}

 

Upload Theme

• NB: This is a variation of Nick’s “Activate Your Theme” step
• Zip your Theme folder, eg, “myawesomewebsite”
• Login to WordPress
• Click on Themes
• Click on Add New and upload your zip file
• NB: The parent theme must already be installed
• Activate your child theme

Congratulations you’ve created and installed your child theme … easy right?!

from the Elegant Themes Blog, written by Shaun Quarton …

20 Hidden WordPress Features You Might Not Know About

If you use WordPress regularly, you probably have a good handle on how everything works.

However, a little digging is required to access WordPress’ functionalities in full. You might not realize there are plenty of “hidden” WordPress features – some more hidden than others.

In today’s post, I’m going to uncover 20 of these hidden WordPress features, so that you can get the maximum from the world’s most popular CMS.

This post is primarily targeted at WordPress beginners. If, however, you consider yourself to be a WordPress dab hand, you might still learn something new or at least refresh your memory of commonly underutilized features.

Read the full article here …