It seems that it'd be must easier for me to get some UI things done, by duplicating and editing certain php template files from the Thematic theme to the child theme in order to preserve the Thematic parent theme and allow me to do this in a way I'm more competent in than by bringing chunks of code into the functions.php file and replacing there.
So is there a way to do this as the css in the child theme is done? I.e. can you link to a child .php file and override the parent as we can with css? If so, how?
And also, if you can, is this just a bad idea and should I just figure out how to bring in the code that needs editing and bring it into the functions.php and replace it there? Is that the best practice?
Sorry if I'm missing something obvious and thanks!
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THE STORY
I need to edit some of my nested sidebar lists and edit some of the code to use some jquery and/or mootools fx. I've had this working before in a non-child theme using mootools, but on this attempt—so far, so bad. It's getting complicated for me to do this since it is involving plugins (recent posts, twitter, and some others), widgets, AJAX (jquery or mootools), and the Thematic framework. So, a lot of elements to consider, which leads me to think that directly editing some of that code might be the way to go although at the same time seems to undermine the framework concept.
SPECIFICALLY
I want the aside to have Categories, Recent Comments, Recent Posts, and Twitter to be collapsable and have the sublists show when they are clicked upon, additionally I want to get fading background colors on all links. Doesn't seem like these 2 things should be too difficult, but I'm having trouble getting this to work at all.
Any advice as to how to proceed/best practices/words of wisdom are very much appreciated.
