How to override subtheme settings (inheritance)?

Question

I am having some difficulty overwriting my subtheme code using my own theme.css file (located in sites>all>themes). I can find the code that results in the display of whichever css style property I'm trying to change (e.g., font-family in the header region) easily, using the chrome DevTool, but when I go to target that area in my own css file it seems not to have any effect on the display. Is there any general methodology with which I can go about inheriting my adjustments to the theme styles? FYI I have renamed my subtheme's files so that is not the issue.

Any help would be wonderful.

Answer 1

Assuming you've cleared the cache and all that before trying to inspect any changes, it sounds like your base theme (the theme you've based your sub-theme on) is one of those themes where the configuration is for a large part done by means of the administrative interface. This means that edits done to the .css fileshave no effect, as they're overridden by settings the administrative interface.

A number of popular themes has this property, including the Adaptive Themes family and Omega 3.

To check out if this is the case, navigate to Administration » Appearance » Settings for your theme (or sub-theme). If there is a lot of settings for fonts, etc., hacking the .css files will not help much and you need to use the administrative interface for styling.