Question about using a Child Theme

[gesshoo]

Hello,

Quick question about the theme in production (live).

Would it be best practice to use a child theme in production so it can be easier to update the theme later? Do you recommend using a child theme with _tw?

[gregsullivan]

Hello—Thanks for posting this!

I don't recommend using a child theme. There's a documentation page on keeping your theme updated that covers my philosophy there a little bit. Automattic has discussed this approach as well, and I reference that post in the documentation page I linked above.

It can take a bit of a mindset change, but I see starter themes like _tw and _s as providing a base meant for direct editing, without child themes having a role in the process.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you have about the above!

[gesshoo]

Thanks for the response. Glad you clarified that for me.

I do have a question about the sidebar inside the footer. Is there a reason for this? Should I start a new discussion for the footer/sidebar?

[gregsullivan]

I'm comfortable answering your question in this thread!

There have been different approaches to sidebars in WordPress themes over the years. _s, for example, still calls get_sidebar() before get_footer() in templates like single.php.

_tw is based on _s, but with modernizations from Varia. Putting the sidebar in the footer mirror Varia's approach. If you don't need a sidebar, you can safely delete it.

Hope that helps!