As a website loads, it draws formatting and styling code from the parent theme's files first. Then, if there is a child theme, it loads that code next so overriding the parent theme's code. It does not change the original code - it just replaces it.

There are a few things you must do to get this to work properly, so I’ll detail the actions below.

What You Need To Create A Child Theme

FTP Client (file manager):
As Wealthy Affiliate does not have a normal control panel or cPanel, the files have to be accessed via an FTP Client, such as FileZilla. It's a free program and not difficult to use.

Simple Text Editor:
To create any code that will be uploaded to your site you will need to use a simple text editor, like Notepad for PC, TextEdit for Mac or any other Code Editor.

N.B. Do not use a word processor as it will embed it’s own formatting code into the text and may cause you grief!

Code Editor (optional):
I recommend using a code editor as it has code-formatting built-in to visually help you as you write your code. It does make coding much easier as it adds different colors to specific properties enabling instant visual checking.

I use a free code editor called Sublime Text 2 which is highly rated and efficient.

If you are familiar with any version of Adobe Dreamweaver, the original web designer’s chosen program, you can create virtually any sort of code from within its interface too, including css, html and php.