If you are a veteran in the e-commerce arena, chances are you are well informed about Shopify. In case you are a new comer in this field, I believe chances are even more that you know about Shopify. This platform is the most sought after by online businesses to establish their web-stores as it is easy to use, reliable, scalable, and offers dedicated customer support.
The best of the platform is that you do not have to be technically sound to build your online store and still you can achieve above average results. However, if you are looking at getting end-to-end customization of Shopify, you may weigh your options of hiring a professional Shopify developer. Having said that, it doesn’t ever hurt to gain some knowledge about the technical background of the platform and how you can achieve the best from your developer.
Themes of the webstore and layouts play an important role in establishing your name in the market and attracting visitors. If your themes are creative and interactive, the chances of converting your visitors into clients increases and helps in growing your business.
In this article today, we will discuss how you can use enhance your knowledge about Shopify theme development and build an amazing online store for your business:
- Spend time with Liquid:
Liquid is Shopify’s open source template language and is easier than you can imagine. All Shopify themes are powered by Liquid which is a Ruby based language and is highly readable and expressive in nature. It is a medium between the Shopify content and the HTML rendered in a user’s browser. If we speak technically, it uses placeholder constructs to access a given store’s data and produces that relevant data directly into a template. A good idea is to learn the basics of the language whether you are technical or not.
- Leverage the Timber Theme Framework:
This is a great way to speed up your theme development as it simplifies the process. It is a theme template that can be used by beginners when learning Liquid. It’s an all-in-one package which has a wide range of layouts, snippets, and code that can be copied and modified for your project.
- The Power of Snippets:
There is a Snippets folder available with every theme. When you include a snippet, the code inside it will have access to the variables within its parent template and you are not required to use ‘. liquid’ extension. Use naming convention makes finding snippets much easier, especially when the usage increases.
- Theme Review Process:
Though you may find many themes available in the Shopify store, only a few are selected out of hundreds which get submitted. Go through the guidelines and review process to familiarize yourself before investing in hours to build your theme.
Theme submissions are assessed predominantly on aesthetics, layout, and minute details. Ensure the flowing points are taken care of when submitting your theme for review:
- Submit at least 3 mock designs including the layout of your theme’s homepage, collection, and product pages.
- Mockup designs for the mobile layout of your theme’s homepage and product pages.
- A rationale for your design choices.
- A link to your portfolio website.
Once you theme design is approved, you are free to start your coding for the web store and create your own unique website.
- Get Creative with your Designs:
This may not be technical but is most important when it comes to designing your own Shopify store. Creativity and newness in the themes are one of the critical factor in the theme assessing process for Shopify experts.
A good approach is to start by looking at the existing Shopify themes and then analyze and identify the gaps which you can fill with your magic touch. Check for market requirements, niche products and customer needs that you can meet with your design. Invest time to figure out how you can integrate your layout with these requirements and it can look different from the existing ones.
These tips will help you to become aware of Liquid and other Shopify elements to making money on Shopify’s platform. If you still find yourself at cross roads while deciding a theme for your Shopify store, turn to WebBee Global for end-to-end customization for your store at affordable prices.
