Editing a theme's code

Editing theme code is where a help centre becomes yours to maintain. Three habits keep that manageable.

Editing theme code is where a help centre becomes yours to maintain. Three habits keep that manageable.

Edit it

1. Duplicate the theme you are starting from. Never edit the published one.
2. Open the code editor.
3. Make the change.
4. Preview it.
5. Publish when you are satisfied.

Habit one: always work on a copy

The published theme is what readers see, live, with every save. Duplicating first means you can preview freely and switch when ready, and reverting is switching back rather than undoing.

Habit two: export before and after

Exporting gives you a file. That is your backup and your version history, because the editor has neither.

A theme customised over two years with no exports is one bad afternoon away from being unrecoverable.

Habit three: write down what you changed

Somewhere outside Zendesk. Which files, what for, and why. That is what makes it possible to apply a Zendesk update to your fork later, and it is what the next person needs.

The templates

Home page, category, section, article, search results, request form. A change to one does not affect the others, and forgetting that is the usual reason an edit seems not to work.

Check on a phone

Every time. Custom code is where responsive layouts break, and the help centre is used on phones more than most people expect.

See also

• Importing and exporting a theme
• My theme change is not showing
• Templating: which parts you can change