customize Shopify themes

5 Things Must Be Aware of While Customizing Shopify Themes

Shopify, a renowned e-commerce platform, has taken the internet and online shopping by storm. With Shopify, merchants can create their own online store. Along with the built-in features, Shopify allows merchants to customize their stores by making desired changes. When customizing Shopify themes, merchants can expand the potential of their stores.

Why do you need to make changes to your existing themes?

Your default theme setting can be very limiting and certain changes in the theme will escalate the chances of great conversions at your store. When customizing Shopify, it will help merchants to optimize their stores and more convenient to use. Shopify offers customization options since it may fall short of something that you require for your business and online store. It includes design layout adjustments, typography adjustments, logo and branding integration, custom functionality, and much more.

Customizing Shopify themes enriches your Shopify store and makes it stand out. With theme customization, you can get 3D details, video previews, and much more on your store. A custom-made Shopify theme differentiates your store from any other store, making your store more appealing.

5 Things To Consider When Customizing Shopify Themes

1. Choosing a Shopify Theme

The purpose of theme customization will only be fulfilled if certain key factors are taken care of. The theme must be true to the following parameters:

Responsive Design

Since the process of theme customization is user-oriented, the design must be responsive and user-friendly. Keep in mind that half of the users are using mobiles and no features should be hidden for smaller screens like tablets or mobile phones. Hiding functionalities and features from such a huge audience is not a smart move and can be problematic for you.

Also, the content on your store must be balanced. There should be enough information and images but do not stuff your store with a lot of extensions. Too many images can slow down the loading speed which will result in a bad shopping experience.

Simplified Navigation

It is often observed that there is a lot of traffic but the conversion rate is meagre. Complicated navigation can be one reason for this. Keeping the menu/navigation simple can resolve this concern. Users prefer easy processes. Lesser and easier steps will engage more users.

Blog

The addition of a blog section is what is usually forgotten while designing the theme. Blogs play an important role in search engine optimization and adding a well-written, SEO optimization is really important to get organic traffic. Appealing banner images are also effective. The blog and the image should make a great combination with the theme. Do not skip the inclusion of a blog section.

Embed Videos

Adding videos significantly improves the appeal of your site. It not only adds aesthetic value but also engages and informs the customers with information about your products and brand. Therefore, choosing a theme that allows adding videos is important. Also, the video addition should be flexible. The theme should enable you to upload videos on any page or any section.

High-Quality Images

High-quality images play an important role since most viewers are convinced by images rather than the written content. To achieve impressive results, the theme should have enough space for the inclusion of large images. Using large, beautiful images will make your e-commerce site more appealing. However, over-stuffing of images can have adverse effects.

2. Two Approaches to Customize a Shopify Theme

Theme customization is a really simple process. However, varying according to your business needs, theme customization can cause certain issues when it comes to upgrading but still is not a big deal to make and upgrade custom themes as required. Using the built-in features, the themes can be customized in simple steps.

The simple and non-technical way is using built-in features. Here is how you can customize your theme using built-in features:

  • Log in to your Shopify admin panel
  • Click on “online stores”
  • Choose “Themes” and then “Customize Themes”
customize Shopify themes

A list containing the pages of your store that can be customized will appear on your screen. The list will include options like home page, product pages, checkout page, etc.

  • Select the page you want to customize, you will see which sections you can edit. 
  • Make changes as per your requirements and do not forget to have a glance at the preview before saving changes.
customize Shopify themes

The second way of customizing the theme requires technical skills. This is to edit the code page. Here is the step-by-step process of customization through the code page:

  • Go to your Shopify admin panel and click on “online store.” 
  • Click on “themes” and then the drop-down-“edit code” which is on the left side of the panel.
  • To make changes select a file and open the editor.
customize Shopify themes

To make these changes you need to have profound knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Liquid. If you are not sound at coding, you can opt for Shopify themes customization services and hire a Shopify expert to do the needful for you!

Instead of building a new theme from scratch, you can also modify a standard theme to fulfil your needs.

3. What changes can you make by customizing the theme using built-in features?

Shopify theme customization

Shopify’s built-in features offer various changes that can be made while customizing the theme:

Header

You can customize the page header including the logo and the top navigation. Changes made to the header will appear on all the pages. Similarly, any changes made to the footer will appear on all pages. If you change the setting of the header or the footer on the home page, these changes will be updated sitewide.

However, what you can depends on the coding of your theme. All sections can be individually edited and you can adjust image alignment, text size, the actual text displayed, layout, and much more.

Shopify theme customization

Add New Section

Other than editing the existing sections, you can also add new sections to add more content. With the “add section” button, you can expand your current template. You will be given various content modules as options. You can click on the available sections and check the preview to see what it will look like.

The newly added sections will be put on the bottom of the list but you can change this order. Click on the group of 6 dots that are displayed on the right side of each section to change the order of sections. It will change the cursor to an open “grab” hand. Then you can drag the sections and arrange them in the order you want.

Shopify theme customization

Colours and Typography

Further, using the built-in features, you can change colours and typography on your site. Next to the “Sections” tab, there is a “Theme Settings” with a number of options. You can include social media icons to spread awareness about your brand. You can also update the Favicon for your Shopify store. A Favicon is a small image that is displayed with the URL. You can select a Favicon from the free images that are offered by Shopify.

Shopify theme customization

Checkout Page

The checkout page plays a critical role in conversion and therefore it is significant to edit this section. On the checkout page, you can change colours, change typography, add or change background images, add a logo, add images related to the order summary, and much more.

Shopify theme customization
Shopify theme customization

4. What to keep in mind about customizing colours, fonts, and images?

Stick to one colour palette

Choosing a colour for your site can be challenging on various levels. From the colour coordination to the brightness of colours, there is a lot that needs attention. However, going with certain rules can help. The first and foremost thing that needs to be considered is that the colours should be in coordination with the logo if you already have one. The inspiration for colours should lie in the type of products you offer. You can seek help from online colour palette tools. 

Do not use so many fonts

The font selection indeed makes an impact on branding. Consistency is the key in the case of fonts. While choosing fonts, be selective and do not use more than 3 fonts. Too many fonts will end up looking chaotic and lesser fonts will make a symmetrical pattern that looks aesthetically appealing. Also, the two or three fonts that you choose to use must complement each other. Try using fonts that belong to the same family. 

Font size

While pairing fonts, not only the style matters but the size also matters. Use different font sizes with regard to the importance of the content. Use bigger font sizes for the things that you want to highlight. It will result in a great user experience.

Consistency

Throughout your site, there should be symmetry in terms of design. Too many patterns and designs often lead to confusion, resulting in a bad user experience. Sticking to a core set of colours, fonts, and designs helps in creating a brand identity.

Image resolution

It is a well-established fact that images play a defining role for a brand. Images should be relevant, on-point, and definitely of high-resolution. Make sure the images are of at least 1024px by 1024px resolution. However, uploading images at Shopify’s maximum resolution that is 2048px by 2048px is highly recommended. Small sizes result in blur images which discourages the users.

Image Size Ratios

From homepage to collection pages, images are used at multiple places on a site. To give a consistent and symmetrical look, keep in mind the height-to-width ratio of the images.

5. Remember to Back-up Your Themes

It is recommended to duplicate themes in your Shopify store. This does not interfere with the customer experience in any way. It will help in troubleshooting in case of speed issues. Backups of themes should be made. Shopify allows holding 20 themes at once, allowing you to keep backups of themes. It is suggested to keep a record of updates and changes as it can later help in resolving any concern if occurs.

Final Thoughts

Don’t pick a theme only because it looks aesthetically appealing. Focus on functionality and what suits your product best. With Shopify’s built-in features, merchants can customize the themes easily by themselves and allows them to build their brand’s identity and upscale their business. Also, for customizations that require coding skills, don’t pick a random developer just because you’re in a hurry. These customizations require a deep understanding of programming knowledge, so, for best results, hire an expert.

Looking for a Shopify expert to customize your Shopify theme? Contact HappyPoints for any queries or information regarding theme tweaks and customization.

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