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Modifying the Options theme

Note: This page is only for users that like to change a lot of stuff in their theme, but don’t like the hassle that upgrading brings. Otherwise, hack away at your theme as you wish. ;)

To customize the Options theme, you need to do a couple of things before you just start hacking away at the files.

Please note that as of version 1.3 of the theme, you should not edit any of the PHP files directly because we’ve moved to an entirely new system, which will allow you to keep up with theme upgrades without breaking your modifications.

  1. Creating/editing a child theme
  2. Editing PHP files

Creating or editing a child theme

I’ll be showing you how to create a child theme. If you’re using one of the child themes, such as Shadow, Blue Danube, or Options Light, you already have a child theme.

First, create a new folder in your /wp-content/themes directory. Name it something like options-custom.

Now, you want to copy these files from your options folder.

  • style.css
  • screenshot.png
  • The images folder and all its contents.

Drop those files into your options-custom folder.

Now, you need to change the information at the top of your /options-custom/style.css file. Make it look something like this:

/*
Theme Name: Options Custom
Theme URI: http://yoursite.com/options-theme
Description: Write a short description.
Template: options
Author: Your Name
Author URI: http://yoursite.com
*/

The most important part is this line, and it should look exactly like this:


Template: options

That tells WordPress that you want to use the Options theme as your framework.

Editing PHP files

I advise against editing any PHP file within the Options theme folder because you’ll just have to edit it again for the next upgrade. And, I update my themes pretty often.

In WordPress versions 2.6 and older, you’ll need to download the WordPreciousss plugin. In WordPress 2.7, you won’t need this plugin.

Once your at that page, find this:

Download plugin only version: wordpreciousss311-pluginonly.zip

You only need the plugin-only version of the plugin. What this allows us to do is overwrite parent theme (options) files from our child theme.

For example, if you wanted to alter single.php or category.php, you’d just copy those files from the Options folder into your child theme folder. Then, you could edit to your heart’s content.

You won’t be able to do this with header.php, footer.php, and sidebar.php.

However, you shouldn’t ever need to touch those files. The sub-folders should be off-limits to you too, but I know ways to make those work from a child theme for more advanced users.

For more advanced customizations, such as editing PHP files, stop by the support forums for help.