Theme editing tips for Shopify 2.0

Theme editing tips for Shopify 2.0

First, familiarise yourself with editing basics: 
Understand level of support available:
  1. Shopify’s Help Centre for everything Shopify
  2. Then, Theme developer for guides on theme sections
  3. Finally, Tower for customisations added to your theme or new development requests.

Backing up is your friend

When starting off it’s a good idea to make a copy or backup the theme before making major changes. You can also download a copy for uploading later.
TIPS: 
  1. Keep your themes labelled with a date or small description of change.
  2. Download your live theme periodically

Add content to launch later

Consider adding new content such as homepage promotions through sections or banners. Then, hide the block or section & hit Save. When ready, make visible & launch!
In contrast, work on an unpublished copy of your live theme for bigger updates, then launch. 

Change default theme text 

Previously called ‘Edit languages’ 
In addition to customising your theme, you can also change the default text for theme or Shopify labels. For example, you can change "Cart" to "Shopping bag", or "Sold out" to "Unavailable". Each theme includes a language editor where you can edit the text for your theme. Checkout page included.

Group menu items without a collection or page link

Headings can be created within a menu by adding an empty link. 
Use it as a 1st or 2nd level menu item. Add link collections underneath. Especially helpful when exploring megamenu theme features. 
  1. Enter “#”, wait for link to load and select “#” again to confirm.
    {This is the current behaviour when pasting an external link anywhere within Shopify)
  2. Add a menu label relevant to the product ranges.
  3. Drag & Drop or add links underneath, as necessary.
More on menus:

Create page layouts with templates

Included in your theme are templates (default layouts) for the homepage, pages, collections and more. You can now create your own layouts and assign to pages as needed.
Editing a template applies the changes to every page that uses that template and so recommended for unique layouts. 
More on templates:

Feature more content with Metafields & Metaobjects (advanced)

Metafields are a great way to use one template yet display different content. 
Examples:
  1. Change a promotion on certain pages but not all
  2. Add logos associated with a collection or page
  3. Display custom info for products
Take Metafields a step further and organise them into Metaobjects to fit your theme, specifically a block or a section. This means managing something like your promotion via the Admin page instead of Theme editor.
TIP: Pin Metafields to make them easier to update within Shopify admin

Tag filtering vs OS2.0 Faceted filtering

Older themes rely on tags (Retailer category and product tags) to filter products while newer builds can introduce Product Options (variants) and metafields (classifications) in addition to tags. 2.0 filtering also includes a handy inbuilt feature for product availability and price ranges.
TIP: 
Become familiar with how to edit filters (also Recommended Products) 
And TWC sync preferences 

If you would like advice on website development or moving to faceted filtering, get in touch via webdesign@towersystems.com.au 




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