Create or download Divi Child Theme: How to get started with child themes in Divi

Have you ever wondered what exactly a child theme is? Do you use Divi and have heard many times in the community that Divi as a page builder can work wonderfully with many different child themes? Do you want to create a child theme yourself, but don’t really know how and where to start?

The popular WordPress theme Divi supports child themes just like all other themes. This feature allows you to make changes to the theme files without affecting the original files. This is important so that regular updates don’t change the theme.

Then I have good news for you, because in this article I’m going to explain exactly that and much more in a little more detail. First, I’ll show you what a child theme is, how it works in relation to Divi, and how you can create one for yourself. So that all this is particularly easy for you, I have also integrated many practical examples and screenshots. After that I explain about free and paid child themes and finally draw a conclusion about their usage.

So if you are currently using Divi Theme and now your interest has been piqued, be sure to read on. Let’s not waste any more time now and jump right into the topic.

Also interesting: Our WordPress Child Theme Generator

Let’s go!

What is a WordPress Child Theme?

Whoever owns a WordPress blog, often uses a simple free theme from the official theme directory of WordPress. This is actually more than enough for the start, but quite quickly you will reach the limits of your possibilities. So you think about whether you should not change the theme or better yet, how you can customize the actually quite nice and currently used theme a little. WordPress fortunately makes it very easy for you in this regard.

This is where child themes come into play. So it is a kind of “child” of your actual parent theme (the parents). Whereby the metaphor is not quite accurate. Let’s better say that your Child Theme changes something in the Theme without really changing anything. The child is descended from its parents, but is still independent. Not every gene is inherited and yet the origin is always clear.

Do you understand the principle?

The child theme allows you to customize the theme you are currently using to your own needs, but without having to touch the theme files themselves.

For example, if you want to change something about the styling of your website, you use a child theme with Style.css and thus influence the appearance of the theme without having to actively change its CSS. Thus, the actual WordPress theme always remains in its original state and all your changes to it survive possible updates, because they were added only via child theme.

Why you absolutely need a child theme for Divi

Child themes play a very important role in Divi Page Builder. The problem with making changes directly to the WordPress theme itself is that they become obsolete again with every update of the theme. With ordinary WordPress themes, this is usually half as bad, because there are usually only a few updates. Divi, on the other hand, is already maintained over a very long period of time and thus constantly kept up to date. Updates are mandatory here. Among other things, because so new modules for the page builder can be added.

So if you would make the changes to the Divi theme itself, every update would immediately undo your personal adjustments and you would have to integrate them again. This would be tedious and is simply not very practical. Child themes are therefore of great importance, especially for themes like Divi, to realize your own designs based on the Divi Page Builder, which are then permanently preserved.

The Child Theme (child) therefore always refers to the Parent Theme (parent). It is an adaptation of the original, but without directly interfering with the original. Thus, a child theme remains fully functional even after all updates, while the actual files of the theme can be overwritten normally with the update. Of course, without affecting the customizations that were made via the child theme.

How to create a child theme for Divi

Even if it seems a bit cumbersome and maybe even difficult at first glance, creating a child theme is basically quite simple. All you need is access to your server via FTP, an editor to edit the theme files and of course the Divi theme itself for which you want to create a child theme. That’s all you need for now.

In the directory"/wp-content/themes/” you create a folder and give it a name of your choice. In the example I call it"child“. In this folder you copy a style.css and a functions.php, which you have created and saved before.

It is important that certain parameters are present in these files. For example, you add the following snippet to style.css.

/*
Theme Name: Divi Child
Theme URI: https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/
Description: Divi Child Theme
Author: Elegant Themes
Author URI: https://www.elegantthemes.com
Template: Divi
Version: 1.0.0
*/


/* =Theme customization starts here
------------------------------------------------------- */

Directly below the snippet you can add your own CSS code to integrate styles and influence the theme. The functions.php is similar, but you have to put the following snippet at the beginning to make it work.

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

//add new code here

As you can see, it’s not that difficult to create your own child theme. That’s all there is to it. More is not necessary. You could now, purely for the sake of appearance, add a preview image for your child theme. This image should be called “screenshot.png” and should be 1200 x 900 pixels. Copy it quickly into the folder, then it will be displayed automatically. This is not a big deal either.

Now the Child Theme is created and can be activated and used. How exactly this works, I’ll tell you in the next paragraph.

Activate your own Child Theme for Divi

In the last paragraph you have already created your own child theme for Divi with my help. Now you have to activate it properly. This is done as with any other WordPress theme. In the dashboard, go to Design and select Themes. Now your Child Theme should be displayed here with the just created thumbnail. If this is not the case, something went wrong. Just follow my instructions from above in such a case again and make sure to implement everything exactly as described by me.

In the box around the theme there are two different buttons. One is called “Activate” and the other “Live Preview”. To activate you have to click on the first of the two buttons. From now on the child theme for Divi is activated and the changes will directly affect your WordPress website and the Divi theme.

If you had already set up Divi before, you may have to select or import these settings again. It’s always best to set up a child theme long before you actively used Divi. But what changes are possible with a child theme for Divi?

Making changes to the theme via child theme

Here it all depends on what exactly about Divi you want to change.

Basically, how child themes work is that you copy the files from the actual theme and add them to the child theme.

There you can edit them without affecting the original in any way.

However, these interventions require much more expertise than the changes to style.css and functions.php. Theoretically, you can also copy entire folders from the Divi theme and modify them accordingly. However, this should always be done with the necessary caution and only if you really know exactly what you are doing.

Just editing the style.css and functions.php should be enough for most people to make deep adjustments. I’ve already explained how to do that above. Now it’s up to you to design Divi according to your wishes and customize it as you like. This way you can create your own personal version of Divi.

Where can I find help for creating a child theme?

Divi comes from the developer Elegant Themes and they are relatively well known for their consistently good support. If you have any questions regarding the child theme, please contact Elegant Themes directly. There is chat, mail and an “Ask the Community” section on the website. However, this is only in English, which should be obvious.

Regarding the Child Theme, Elegant Themes has also written a very clear and detailed tutorial, which also shows what I have shown. However, this is also in English and goes less into pros and cons or details, as I try to do here on the page. Nevertheless, it does not hurt to have a look at it, because the manual teaches some very important basics. So if something doesn’t work, Elegant Themes is your place to go.

Basically WordPress has the advantage that there are many forums about the CMS. Divi is widespread and so you can find help there. Or you can ask a professional to create a child theme for you. You are also welcome to contact me, so that I can make the necessary adjustments for you. After a short conversation about what exactly you have in mind, we will surely come to an agreement.

Create Child Theme via Plugin

An alternative to the individual creation comes to my mind as well. There are also several child theme generators in the official plugin directory of WordPress. The Child Theme Configurator is one of them. The plugin is installed like all others directly from WordPress and is then immediately functional.

The extension helps you from now on to create a child theme by analyzing the current theme first and then based on that, it helps you to create a child theme. In the end, however, the whole thing doesn’t do much more than what was described above, but automates this process as completely as possible. The same means that you no longer have to make the changes and the creation of the files independently.

However, I personally don’t find this way sensible. If you create a child theme, you should already know what you are doing. If he doesn’t know, the adjustments will also only be very marginal. So installing a separate plugin for that simply doesn’t make any real sense. Unless you don’t know what you have to do. If that’s the case, you should rather get help from a WordPress professional and not mess around with the WordPress files yourself.

Do I really need a Divi Child Theme?

The short answer is of course a clear no. Of course you don’t need a Divi Child Theme. On the one hand, you could just as well make the customizations to Divi itself, on the other hand, there are also many plugins that allow you to integrate additional CSS code into your WordPress website, for example. This way you can also influence the design of your theme.

While this may all be true, it doesn’t necessarily help you. Especially the fact that Divi receives relatively regular updates will quickly throw a wrench in your plans if you work directly on the original files. With every update your changes would be gone again. The Child Theme prevents this.

Plugins that allow you to add additional CSS code don’t make sense either. If you use Divi, the best way to add new CSS code is via the child theme. Another plugin is therefore completely unnecessary and less direct than the solution via a child theme.

In the end, you’ll need a child theme whenever you want to make customizations to the Divi theme itself.

Even if you want to integrate snippets into functions.php, it is recommended to do this via Child Theme. Simply because that’s what the interface is for. Changes that do not affect the original and remain after all updates.

Download or buy Child Theme?

Now there is another way to deal with Child Themes in WordPress. This one concerns the simple download. On the one hand, child themes can be downloaded quite easily, just like all other themes. There are now many different providers for this. Especially with popular page builders like Divi, it is therefore no problem to find suitable child themes. On the other hand, there are also empty child themes that serve as boilerplate for the start.

Such a boilerplate already contains all files that are necessary for the start of a new child theme. More precisely, the style.css, the functions.php and the screenshot for a preview image. This saves you some time and you can simply upload the child theme into the theme directory of WordPress without having to create the files first.

I have also created a child theme for you with the three start files. You can download it by clicking the button below and start customizing it right away. If you need any help, feel free to contact me.

Regarding the Child Themes, Divi has one more special feature. Because Divi is a page builder, various themes have been created for Divi itself over the years. So, much like there are themes for WordPress, there are a sheer amount of child themes for Divi that bring with them completely different designs and features.

Download free Divi Child Themes

The first ones are the free child themes for Divi. Here, there are different providers that offer such themes for download. These are special customizations for Divi itself, which in turn are made available to others.

As with many free WordPress themes, too, not too much should be expected from free child themes in the end. Mostly they are minimally customized files that bring a nice style or integrate a few new features. On LoveDivi, for example, you can find several free Divi Child Themes for download. Also on BestDiviChild there is a nice child theme, which is fully focused on providing a landing page.

The free child themes for Divi are not bad and are more or less a visual extension of the actual Divi theme. However, they do not bring many features. That is usually more reserved for the premium child themes, which are the subject of the next paragraph.

Buy Premium Child Themes

Premium Child Themes are comparable to Premium Themes for WordPress. These are very elaborate and quite sophisticated themes, which often bring a lot of new or advanced features. Because this is so and because they are well maintained and supplied with updates, they cost logically almost always a few euros more. Either as a one-time purchase or as a membership to a child theme website.

A wonderful example of a very large Divi Premium Child Theme is Luxe. A completely WooCommerce and ecommerce focused child theme for the Divi Page Builder. It costs significantly more than many others, but also includes many features and several premium layouts.

Stores like the one from The Design Space are many by now. Theme providers do not only develop themes for WordPress, but also for popular page builders like Divi or Elementor. These themes are often no less elaborate than premium WordPress themes and are therefore called premium child themes.

These are therefore particularly high-quality child themes that receive support and bring a variety of extras. Almost like the Premium Themes for WordPress, only that they are based on a page builder and not on WordPress itself.

My conclusion about the Divi Child Themes

Child themes were not invented exclusively for Divi. Rather, Child Themes are firmly anchored in the system of WordPress and form there an important interface for clever theme customizations. After all, premium themes and page builders like Divi get regular updates, so that all add-ons must be integrated in a particularly future-proof way.

Child Themes make sure that these updates have no influence on your personal customizations. In addition, there are free and paid sources to download Child Themes and thus quickly and easily realize exciting layouts for an existing system. This works really well and is also extremely practical to create different variations without any hassle.

So if you are a bit overwhelmed by Divi or you like Divi as a page builder, but you are personally not so affine in designing and programming, Child Themes are a great way to realize your own designs. In terms of Divi, they are like add-ons for Divi itself. What themes and plugins are for WordPress, child themes are for the Divi system.