Many options are available on the market today for creating the perfect look and layout for your Shopify store.
You can choose from a variety of free and paid themes in the Shopify Theme Store. This is something that many businesses do, and it works for them up to a point.
If you want a different and unique theme for your store, however, you’ll want to look past these themes’ cookie-cutter design and limited functionality.
Learning how to create Shopify themes, on the other hand, can be a difficult task.
So, how do you create a one-of-a-kind theme that gives you the flexibility and capacity to build the online store your business requires?
Our blog can assist you in creating a Shopify theme from the ground up and the various approaches you can take to determine which path is best for your business.
What is the difference between a Shopify theme and a Shopify template?
The overall design, look, and Shopify theme defines the feel of your Shopify store. It serves as the foundation for all of your store’s elements.
It is critical to ensure a strong foundation because all of your pages, apps, images, and other content are built on top of it.
Is it Possible to Make Shopify Theme from the Ground Up?
To put it another way, yes.
Shopify has created a marketplace where store owners can find both premium and free pre-built themes, giving them access to a library of visually stunning themes that make setting up a store a breeze.
You will save time and money by following the pre-planned route.
If you’re reading this, however, you’re probably already aware of the drawbacks:
- Scalability is a problem.
- With built in themes: customizations are limited.
- Not for conversions but for aesthetic reasons.
The best alternative to these is to start from scratch with a Shopify theme for your store.
- Is it possible to change my current theme?
- It’s reasonable to expect your business to expand and grow.
As a result, you’ll need to change your theme to accommodate the increased traffic generated by your newly popular site.
You’ll need more control over how each page and element on your website looks and feels. More flexibility in testing content placement and determining how it affects customer experience and conversions will also be required.
Your brand will benefit from a more memorable and easy-to-recognize experience if you’re not using a theme that’s been licenced by hundreds (or thousands) of other online retailers.
You can change your Shopify theme from a pre-built to a customized or completely custom-built one.
Up to 20 themes in your Shopify theme library can be stored and you can switch between them without losing content.
You can also switch between platforms with the help of Shopify experts. For example, suppose you already have a Magento store and want to move it to another platform. In that case, Shopify is the best option due to its extensive features. Magento to Shopify product migration will be a breeze, thanks to expert Shopify developers.
Planning for your Shopify Custom Theme
- Before you start building your online store, you’ll need a strategy. It’s not just about the colour scheme and placement of your logo.
- You must plan out your customers’ entire journey, beginning at the beginning.
- How to Make a Website Template from the Ground Up
- Your store’s design should facilitate the ideal flow of customers from the point of entry to the point of exit.
- If everything goes well, that’ll be the end of it.
Your funnel is in perfect working order. It’s similar to how retailers plan to direct customers to the cash register (with great cross-selling happening even at the end).
When planning your store, think of the placement of your elements as steps in a journey.
Take into account the following:
- How do they get into the store? (i.e., which page they should begin on).
- What will they be searching for in your store? Whether it’s a new black t-shirt or a Christmas gift idea, you need to get your customers what they want as soon as possible.
- What should be your first course of action? Is it necessary for them to type in a keyword? Do you want them to benefit from a special deal? To get their clicks as soon as they land on the site, you must properly define elements.
- How many steps must they take to complete a purchase?
- What will happen to secondary elements/links? (Blogs, return policies, related products, testimonials, and so on.)
It doesn’t have to be complicated; it could be as simple as a line drawing of the layout of your website before any decorations are added.
How to Create a Shopify Store
- In your Shopify store, you can add any page you want.
- While your store’s content and products will likely set it apart from the competition, you’ll still need standard pages to run a successful business.
Focus on creating eye-catching and easy-to-navigate layouts for the following must-have pages:
Homepage: Homepage with a distinct brand proposition, simple navigation, and clear calls to action.
Landing pages: A sense of urgency is created by landing pages with strategically placed, appealing images, as well as elements that display stock levels and sales countdowns.
Product Pages: Product pages contain customer testimonials, optimized product titles, and simple add-to-cart functionality.
Collection Pages: Collection pages organize products by brand, customer interest, promotions, and other factors, making them easier to find and lowering friction.
A blog page is also a good idea; it can help your site rank higher and appear in more customer searches.
How to Create a Shopify Theme from the Ground Up
After you’ve planned out your site, it’s time to start building it.
But, before you get started, keep in mind that creating a custom theme can be costly and time-consuming.
You’ll need the assistance and support of a reputable Shopify web development company if you don’t have any coding experience. They can make your custom Shopify theme’s design and implementation go as smoothly as possible.
Understanding the Basics of Developing a Shopify Theme
Learning some technical terms is required to create a unique theme from the ground up. Once you grasp the concepts involved, the process should become much more manageable.
To finish your theme, you’ll need the Shopify CLI, Dawn, and Shopify GitHub integration.
CLI for Shopify (Command Line Interface)
CLI is a command-line interface that allows you to instruct a computer program (in this case, Shopify).
If you’re not a programmer, you’re probably more familiar with a graphical user interface (GUI), which eliminates the need to deal with all that scary-looking code.
To tell Shopify what changes you want to make to your custom theme, you’ll need to install Shopify CLI on your machine.
Dawn Theme
This is the default Shopify theme. Consider it a starting point for your Shopify store’s design.
You can edit Dawn with the Shopify CLI after you’ve cloned it.
Workflow for Theme Development
While you can create your theme directly in the Shopify admin panel, the GitHub workflow is preferred for version control.
Your theme’s Git repository serves as both a history and a backup.
However, keep in mind that any changes you make with the Shopify GitHub integration will be reflected in your theme, so wait until you’ve previewed and tested your custom theme before moving on to the GitHub integration stage.
Understanding Liquid
Liquid, a programming language, is used to create all Shopify themes.
You don’t need to be a master backend coder to make it work because it’s made up of HTML files with embedded code.
Liquid shouldn’t be too difficult to grasp if you’re familiar with HTML and CSS.
The Liquid connects the data Shopify stores about your online store to the code your customers see in their browsers.
Shopify already has a lot of the functionality you’ll need for an eCommerce store; all you have to do now is figure out how to change the way the content is displayed.
Fitting It All In
All you have to do now is place the jigsaw puzzle pieces together!
If you’re new to this, you’ll have to learn by trial and error. Remember to create versions and only go live after you’ve thoroughly tested everything.
The goal is to use your theme’s design to turn your ecommerce site’s plan—homepage, product page, etc.—into reality.
To overcome this obstacle, you must first understand Shopify’s theme architecture.
Many different elements make up your Shopify store, including page layouts, elements on each page, how and where images are placed, and so on.
To tell the difference between them and where they should be placed, specific instructions must be given to Shopify.
Prototype and Test
Once you’ve initialized your theme and authenticated it in Shopify, you can preview your work before going live.
Prepare yourself for the launch.
Once you’ve road-tested your theme and are happy with how it looks and feels, you’re ready to launch it.
Conclusion
Pre-built pages from the Shopify marketplace are unquestionably the quickest way to get your store up and running with a great design, but they don’t always match your store’s vision.
You can hire a development company instead of learning Liquid and all other development tools for Shopify theme development from scratch.