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Build your first child theme

The Unyson+ Theme is the parent; what you actually ship to a site is a child theme of it. The child inherits every template and design token from the parent and overrides only your brand. This guide gets a working child theme on screen in a few minutes.

Why a child theme?

You could change Theme Settings on the parent directly, but a child theme keeps your brand (logo, colors, any template overrides) in your own package, so a parent-theme update never overwrites it.

💡 Web dev tip: never edit the parent theme

Customisations belong in a child theme, not the parent — a parent-theme update overwrites its files and wipes your changes. A child theme overrides only what you need while still receiving the parent's updates and security fixes. It's the maintainable way to customise any WordPress theme. Child themes

1. Create two files​

In wp-content/themes/, make a folder (e.g. acme/) with two files.

style.css — the Template: line is what makes it a child of the Unyson+ Theme:

/*
Theme Name:  Acme Site
Template:    unysonplus-theme
Version:     1.0.0
*/

functions.php — load the parent's stylesheet:

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

That's a complete, working child theme.

2. Activate it​

Go to Appearance → Themes and activate Acme Site. Your site now runs on the full Unyson+ Theme, with your child as the active package. (You need the Unyson+ plugin and the unysonplus-theme parent present.)

3. Brand it in Theme Settings​

Open Appearance → Theme Settings. This is the global design layer: colors, typography, the header and footer, layout, and custom CSS. Set your palette and fonts here and the whole site (and the page-builder elements) follow, no CSS required.

Theme Settings — General tab (site width, background, content density, border roundness)

Everything you change is compiled into a single generated stylesheet, see How settings become CSS.

4. Override a template (optional)​

Need to change a template? Copy the parent's file into your child at the same path and edit it, the standard WordPress child-theme override. For example, to customize the footer, copy unysonplus-theme/footer.php to acme/footer.php.

You can also override extension files and add Theme Settings through acme/framework-customizations/, the same mechanism the parent uses (see the extension system).

5. Ship it​

There are two things you might distribute, and they travel separately:

  • The theme — zip the child folder and install it like any theme, or push it to a GitHub repo and let the bundled auto-updater keep it current.
  • The design — colors / fonts / header / footer / custom CSS live in Theme Settings, not the files. Move them between sites with the built-in design export/import (Theme Settings → Miscellaneous → Export / Import).

Full detail (overrides, the three customization layers, design export rules) is in Child themes.

What's next​

  • Build pages — Build your first page with the visual builder.
  • Understand the stack — The Theme covers the parent/child relationship in depth.
  • Go deeper — the For Developers section covers adding shortcodes, option types, and extensions.