Custom CSS

[Jenny Anderson]

Hi Bill,

I am currently installing Grassroots on my site and was wondering if there is a way to get a custom.css file to work. I know you can enter custom css on the Theme Editor>Advanced area, and that has been working I just feel more comfortable having it backed up within it’s own css file that I can edit & upload via FTP. I created a custom.css file & uploaded it via FTP but the changes are only showing up if I put that code in the Theme Editor area. Is there something preventing it from reading the custom file?

Thanks!

[Bill Robbins]

Hello Jenny,

Excellent question there. I would suggest making a child theme. It will allow you to have your custom CSS in a way that you can access via FTP if you want/need to. It’s a very “WordPress” way of handling customization.

You can find a few articles on how to create and use child themes at https://support.organizedthemes.com/child-themes/

If you have any questions or trouble, let me know.

Thanks,
Bill

[Jenny Anderson]

Hi Bill,

I created a child theme and have been editing in there–does a custom.css file not work? I have been directly editing the stylesheet in the child theme because when I add any changes to my custom.css file they don’t take affect. Any reason this is happening?

Thanks

[Bill Robbins]

Jenny,

Good question. The only built in WordPress way to override a theme using a CSS file is with a child theme. Some theme authors have written scripts that will cause a custom.css file to be loaded if it exists, but that’s something that’s been added to WordPress.

I typically just encourage users to create a child theme if they would like to make more extensive CSS customizations. It gives you all the advantages that a custom.css file has without requiring any additional coding overhead.

Bill

[Jenny Anderson]

Thanks Bill! I got it working now!

[Bill Robbins]

Fantastic 🙂

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