Let's get started! Our first steps include choosing a parent theme, then creating a folder and stylesheet for our child theme.

To begin with, we'll just cut-and-paste some boilerplate code into our stylesheet.

(I've provided the sample code as a downloadable file for your convenience.)

Now that we have a dedicated stylesheet for our child theme, we need to edit it appropriately.

In this video, I explain what each line of the sample code means, and how to edit it with your own child theme information. (If you haven't already cut-and-pasted the boilerplate code into your child theme's stylesheet, I've provided the sample code as a downloadable file for your convenience.)

Let's get coding!

Now that we've got the bare-bones framework for our child theme, let's go back to the WordPress administrative dashboard and activate it.

Next, we'll test it to make sure it's working by adding the following code to our child theme's CSS stylesheet:

body { background-color: red; }

See how the background turned red? Bravo - your child theme is working!

You probably noticed that your child theme doesn't have a fancy screenshot. How boring!

We can fix that by uploading a file called "screenshot.png" into our child theme's folder. Make sure your image is saved in PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format, and measures 880 pixels wide by 660 pixels high.

I've provided a sample screenshot as an example. Feel free to use it for practice!

What is FTP, and how do you use it? In this lesson, you'll learn:

• The purpose of File Transfer Protocol
• Where your live website files are stored, or "hosted"
• What kind of software program you need to use FTP
• How to use an FTP client (like Cyberduck) to connect to a web server
• What three pieces of information you need to connect to a web server

How do you upload and download files to and from a web server using FTP (File Transfer Protocol)? In this lesson, you'll learn:

• How to navigate through files and folders on another server using an FTP client (such as Cyberduck)
• How to use an FTP client (such as Cyberduck) to move files between your computer and a web server
• How to view a website's stylesheet through any web browser

How can you edit files directly on a server using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and a plain text editor? In this lesson, you'll learn:

• How to save time when editing files online
• How to configure Cyberduck to use your preferred text editor (TextWrangler or Notepad++) to edit files online
• How to check the modification time of the files on your server using an FTP client (such as Cyberduck)

In this video, I give a quick review of the steps we took to create our child theme. I also provide a little bit of guidance for where to learn more about how to customize your child theme.

We only added a bit of CSS code in our example, but there's a lot more you can do with child themes.

If you want to change more than just the stylesheet, your child theme can overwrite any file in the parent theme. You can include a file of the same name in the child theme folder, and it will overwrite the equivalent file in the parent theme.

• For example: if you want to change your site footer, you can include a file called footer.php in your child theme's folder, and that file will be used instead of the parent theme's footer.php file.

(An important exception: the functions.php of a child theme doesn't override its counterpart from the parent. Instead, it's loaded in addition to the parent's functions.php - and this is very useful, as you'll soon discover!)

You'll need to be comfortable with PHP in order to edit many of your theme files - which is beyond the scope of this beginner-level course. In the meantime, there's a lot you can learn simply by peeking at the code inside the php files in your parent theme.

The WordPress Codex is the best place to start to learn more!

Hurrah, you did it!

Thanks so much for joining me on this learning journey. I hope you enjoyed this course! If you did, please consider leaving a review in the course dashboard -- it helps me when I receive your feedback, and it also helps other Udemy students discover courses that best suit their learning style.

And as always, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Happy learning!