Unmaintained Proper Theme Installation, Upgrading, and Usage

These same principles still apply for the latest XenForo versions. I took it a step further. I leave the base installed theme as-is, of course, and mark it DO NOT EDIT. I create a child under that which I use to make layout tweaks only, and also to apply our site's branding. Below that one, I create all of the different color themes for the site, so the only changes in this level of child theme are used for adjusting color. I no longer edit templates directly. Instead, I create an add-on to apply template modifications via XF's system. That leaves the base themes untouched, which makes upgrades so much easier. The only template I edit directly might be EXTRA.less, and only if it applies to specific color adjustments. (I use a template modification applied to EXTRA.less to insert common tweaks across all of the themes, which saves a lot of editing and chasing down bugs.)

Great information and will be a big help. I am getting ready to buy a style for my new XF site and knew about wanting to create a child but didn't know about a child of that. I never thought about this. Thanks for the guide.

A very helpful guide, the process is very well explained and easy to understand. It just shows that laying the foundations makes things a whole lot easier going forward. Thanks!

Will save a lot of time if followed. Well documented, and thorough. There is not much else to say, thank you.

EXCELLENT TUTORIAL: This is a must read even for seasoned developers. It is a good reminder that keeping it simple can be best. No need to create a new theme every time a upgrade comes along, just make a child of the parent theme.

Excellent! Mike is an excellent theme designer. This guide is really detailed and very helpful. I went from not knowing how to upgrade, to knowing everything needed to perform my first upgrade in a matter of minutes. Thank you for all your hard work.

Thank you, very useful.

Excellent guide on organizing themes!

Well written and to the point.

Very helpful, thank you!

Brilliant :)

Great Guide, thanks

Very helpful guide. I never knew how useful child themes could be!

Very helpful guide, thanks :)

Fantastic guide.

Great read!

Excellent. Thanks.

Thanks for the tutorial - helpful & easy to understand

Excellent guide, thank you for taking the time to write it up.

Definitely helpful and now in full use on our site which is style happy :)