Creating a Child Theme Using a Plugin
Child Theme Configurator is an easy to use WordPress plugin that lets you create and customize child themes quickly without using code.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Child Theme Configurator plugin.
On activation, you need to navigate to Tools » Child Themes in your WordPress dashboard.
On the Parent/Child tab, you’ll be asked to select a parent theme from a drop down menu. We’ll select the Twenty Twenty-One theme.
Once you click the Analyze button the plugin will make sure the theme is suitable for use as a parent theme. Twenty Twenty-One is OK.
Next, you will be asked to name the folder the child theme will be saved in and choose where to save the styles. We’ll leave the default settings.
In the following section, you’ll be asked to choose how the parent theme stylesheet will be accessed. Again, we will go with the default setting.
When you get to Section 7, you’ll need to click the button labeled ‘Click to Edit Child Theme Attributes’. You can then fill in the details of your child theme.
When you create a child theme manually, you lose the parent theme’s menus and widgets. Child Theme Configuratator can copy them from the parent theme to the child theme. Check the box Section 8 box if you’d like to do this.
Finally, click the button to create your new child theme. The plugin will create a folder for your child themes and add the style.css and functions.php files you’ll use to customize the theme later.
Before you activate the theme, you should click the link near the top of the screen to preview it and make sure it looks good and doesn’t break your site.
If everything seems to be working, click the Activate & Publish button and your child theme will go live.
At this stage, the child theme will look and behave exactly like the parent theme. Next, we’ll begin to customize it.