Shopify has earned a well-deserved reputation as one of the fastest and most straightforward ways to set up an e-commerce store. With thousands of free and paid themes, drag-and-drop customization, and user-friendly navigation, just about anyone with basic computer skills can set up a highly functional Shopify store. However, one of the biggest draws to Shopify is also one of its biggest drawbacks. While pre-made themes make it easy to get an e-commerce store up and running quickly, many sellers feel these templates lack the design features or functionality they need to create a truly one-of-a-kind online shopping experience.

The good news is that Shopify doesn’t have to be an out-of-the-box one-size-fits-all solution; in addition to a plethora of purposely crafted templates, Shopify also allows for custom-design themes.

Making Your Shopify Shop Your Own

There are two ways to give your Shopify shop theme a more custom feel. With a little resourcefulness, changing certain elements within existing Shopify templates is possible using the various theme customization options available. Free themes offer little customization, but with paid themes, you can generally edit things like colour, font, and layout. At the same time, a vast library of Shopify Apps allows you to modify or add different features and functions to your personalized theme.

However, if your vision and needs for your Shopify exceed the customization possibilities within existing Shopify templates, custom development is also an option. Businesses of all sizes, from multinational corporations to SMEs and start-ups, choose custom Shopify development for precisely this reason.

Why Shopify Customers Choose to Go Custom

A custom Shopify theme offers several distinct advantages. Firstly, it empowers your business to establish a unique brand identity. While pre-built Shopify themes are convenient, they lack some of the originality needed to truly set your brand apart from the millions of other online shops using the Shopify platform. Going custom allows you to create a distinctive and memorable shopping experience with tailored features, navigation, and layout that enhance usability and boost conversions.

Your website’s performance is also improved when you choose custom. Custom development allows you to eliminate unnecessary features that may slow down your pages, resulting in faster load times, improved SEO, and a generally more responsive and efficient website.

Building a custom Shopify theme from scratch requires a different skill set than simply customizing an existing theme. You will need to have a solid understanding of web design best practices as well as a comfortable familiarity with several coding languages, including the Liquid Shopify theme templating language, HTML. CSS, JavaScript, and JSON.

If you are ready to go beyond cookie-cutter and explore custom-made, the remainder of this blog will cover what you need to know about developing a custom Shopify theme.

Introducing Shopify Online Store 2.0

Unveiled in June 2021, Shopify’s Online Store 2.0 is the next evolution of the Shopify platform. The upgraded Store 2.0 introduces new theme architecture, increased customization options, and more seamless integration with Shopify apps, dramatically reducing the time it takes to get a custom theme up and running while also boosting performance and control for store owners.

Briefly, here are some of the most significant changes you will see with Shopify Online Store 2.0:

• Upgraded Theme Architecture: Store 2.0 introduced enhanced theme architecture, making it easier to add sections to any store page and expanding the integration of the app beyond the homepage.

• Reference Theme: Dawn, which replaces Debut as the default for new stores, serves as the new base for custom theme development and brings all of Store 2.0’s top features with it.

• Developer Tools: With Store 2.0, Shopify unveils a slew of modern developer tools, including GitHub integration and Theme Check. The Shopify CLI also received an update and will be your primary interface for custom theme development.

Creating Your Own Shopify Theme from Scratch

So, we are now ready to get into the technical bits of what goes into creating a custom Shopify theme. Right off the bat, we’ll point out that developing a custom theme is wildly different than editing the layout or adding a Shopify widget to your shop. As we pointed out earlier, building a custom template requires coding skills, familiarity with Shopify’s native theme environment and tools like CLI and GitHub, and a solid grasp of web design best practices.

Translation: if you want to build a custom theme, you will need to have the time and skill to do it yourself or the resources to hire a pro.

Your Step-by-Step to Building Custom Shopify Themes

1. Layout your requirements

Before you write a stitch of code, you will need a concrete plan to work with. This phase is called taking requirements in coding and is crucial to the final product. Here, you will outline your vision for how the final product will look, feel, and function. Nailing this phase will ensure that you end up with a template that checks all your boxes and helps with workflow planning.

2. Prove Your Point of View with Research

Once you have a plan, the next step is to test whether your requirements will accomplish the desired effect. Here, you want to critically assess whether your design and features align with your buyers’ preferences and how they perform in daily use. You can look for other Shopify stores employing similar; if you come across one with an appealing strategy, plug their website into an SEO tool to analyze the stats and determine if it’s worth mimicking. Shopify’s Theme Detector can even identify their specific theme and features that are particularly successful.

3. Set Up Shopify CLI

You’re now ready to jump into the most exciting part of your custom theme development journey: building your template. Start by downloading and installing Shopify CLI on your device. Check the specified requirements below:

• Windows: Node.js 14.17.0 or higher, Ruby+Devkit 3.0, Git, and Bundler 2.3.8 or higher are necessary.

• Linux: Users on Linux need Node.js 14.17.0 or higher, Ruby 3.0, and the Ruby development environment, along with Git, cURL, GCC, g++, and Make.

• Mac: For macOS, ensure Homebrew is installed. You will also need Node.js, Ruby, and Git. The good news is that if you install Shopify CLI using Homebrew, these three prerequisites will be automatically included.

If you need a little more clarity on this topic or any others in this how-to guide, Shopify offers a great custom theme tutorial.

4. Dawn of a New Theme

Your next step is cloning the Dawn theme GitHub repository to your device. This repository contains the source code and other resources needed to understand how the Dawn theme functions and how to implement your desired changes. As you work through building your template, pay special attention to the pages that are most important to buyers, also known as the “critical path.” This path takes potential buyers from their initial landing page to checkout; the more seamlessly customers can travel this path, the higher your conversion will be. While each website is unique, the key pages businesses typically want to focus on include the homepage, product pages, checkout pages, and About Us.

As you work, remember that Shopify has specific guidelines for building on Dawn. Your final output must be “substantively different” from Dawn in terms of both design and functionality. Here’s a rundown of what “substantively different” means:

Rules for Using Dawn to Create Your Custom Template:

• Ensure that your codebase exhibits significant distinctions from other themes.
• Establish a unique identity for your theme submission.
• Provide a clear industry focus for your theme.
• Develop a unique design that sets your theme apart from others.
• Create a cohesive look and feel across all templates, including the index page, product and collection pages, blogs, search, and the cart.
• Integrate unique customization options or functionality to differentiate your theme from others.

5. Synchronize Git Repository with Shopify

While building your theme, make sure to sync your Git repository with both Shopify and your local directory. Although you can observe real-time changes using Google Chrome, the Git integration automatically stores your data in the repository. It allows for seamless push of live changes to the online store during development and upon completion. Moreover, you can also directly add a theme from Shopify’s store to your theme library through Git integration.

6. Test and Preview

It is a good idea to check in regularly and see how your custom theme will look and feel for users. You can use the “Shopify theme dev” command to preview changes in real-time while building. This command instantly reloads locally made changes to CSS and the theme’s sections, letting you preview changes through Google Chrome.

Generate a permanent link to the theme for sharing or prepare for publication by uploading it to your theme library. Recall that testing is integral to fulfilling pre-established requirements and adhering to Shopify’s testing and accessibility requirements.

7. Publish to Shopify Theme Store

You are now coming up to the finish line, where you will finally be able to launch your new Shopify theme. But before going live, make sure to conduct a thorough review of the theme to confirm the completion of all ongoing development activities. Once you’re satisfied, use the “theme push” command to push the theme to your store.

Final Thoughts

Although Shopify is known for its simplicity and quick setup, if you are seeking a truly distinctive online shopping experience, you may find out-of-the-box themes lacking in design features and functionality. For many businesses, creating a custom Shopify theme presents a compelling solution; it allows them to establish a unique brand identity, enhance performance, and cater to specific needs while still benefiting from the powerful Shopify platform.

With the introduction of Shopify’s Online Store 2.0, custom theme development has become more efficient, providing increased customization options and seamless integration with apps. However, even with these powerful new tools, custom development can be out of reach for those who lack sophisticated computer and web design skills. Investing in professional Shopify development offers businesses the opportunity to stand out in the crowded e-commerce landscape, providing a more memorable and customized shopping experience for customers. Whether it is enhancing existing templates or building from scratch, the benefits of customization make professional Shopify development a worthwhile investment for businesses of all sizes.

The post When Out of the Box Isn’t Good Enough: What You Need to Know About Building Custom Shopify Themes appeared first on Nirvana Canada.