I am still fairly new to wordpress in general, but have a question regarding child themes/updating the vantage theme. I’ve read a lot about people losing their websites when updating because updating essentially replaces all the files. I’ve also read some people having trouble getting child themes to work on vantage.
Essentially, what do I need to do to ensure that when I update vantage in the future, I do not lose site files/content? I’ve not personally had an issue so far, but, want to better prepare myself. Sorry if this question is sort of novice. Still getting my feet wet in the web world. :)
Hi Jwetz87
Thanks for reaching out.
A child theme is only required if you’ve modified theme files at a code level. You might have done this via Appearance > Editor or directly via FTP. Both aren’t recommended without a child theme. When WordPress themes update they overwrite themselves so any edited files are lost. This doesn’t apply to content, plugins, theme settings and WordPress core settings. Everything else is safe during update.
Hope that helps.
Just for clarification:
In the Appearance tab there is “Custom CSS”, “Edit CSS” and “Editor”. I’m kind of under the impression the “edit css” and custom css do not get re-written? is that true? The editor is the css that is built in with the theme, the edit css and custom css both seem to be their own style sheets that are independent of the themes basic style sheet?
Edit CSS most likely belongs to Jetpack, since it's a double up win our theme Custom CSS you can consider deactivating it from Jetpack > Settings.
Our Custom CSS feature stores styles in the database when you add them to that field. It's upgrade safe. As is the Jetpack feature if you used it.
Appearance > Editor is a tool to directly edit theme files. Changes aren't stored anywhere other than the file itself, making it not safe for upgrades when operating in the parent theme.
Hope that helps.
Thank you very, very much!
For sure :)