As Shopify continues to evolve, we get to hear about a ton of exciting updates twice yearly in a release Shopify calls 'Editions'. The most recent is the Summer '24 Edition which brings exciting new features that will revolutionise how you customise and design your online store. We will be writing about a handful of the most important updates and explaining how they can benefit your e-commerce business in our ReCartme blog.
In this blog post we will dive into some of the key changes that Shopify is making to their theme customiser and how they compare to other platforms like WooCommerce and Magento.
Introduction of Style Settings
The most significant update in this edition is the introduction of Style settings. This new feature allows for greater customisation of your store's appearance without diving into complex code. Here's why this matters:
Easier Customisation: Merchants can now adapt values for different breakpoints, meaning you can easily customise your site's appearance for mobile devices without needing separate settings for each screen size.
Flexibility in Design: Style settings unlock editing flexibility over layout, size, and spacing, giving you more control over your store's look and feel.
Time-Saving for Developers: Shopify will offer a wide set of style settings via Style panels, starting with Layout, Size and Spacing. This means developers won't have to manually create each individual setting, saving time and effort.
Compared to WooCommerce and Magento, this level of built-in customisation is a game-changer. While these platforms offer customisation options and theme builders, they often require more technical knowledge or additional plugins to achieve similar results. These plugins also need constant updates to stop your store breaking. All of this will now sit in the Shopify theme customiser giving in-house teams greater flexibility when altering Shopify sections.
Enhanced Theme Blocks Functionality
The Summer '24 Edition also extends the capabilities of theme blocks, introduced in the Winter '23 Edition. New features include:
Block Targeting: Developers can now specify which theme blocks merchants can add in a given section or parent block. This offers more control over where blocks can be used while maintaining flexibility.
Static Blocks: Theme blocks can now be statically rendered, meaning they can't be reordered or deleted by merchants. This allows for the creation of layouts with specific behaviours that remain consistent. These features provide a level of control and customisation that surpasses what's typically available out-of-the-box with WooCommerce or Magento.
Future Developments
While not yet implemented, Shopify has revealed plans for exciting future updates:
More Style Settings: Additional panels covering typography, background, border, and effects are in the pipeline. This will help the Shopify theme customiser to rival and over take the find of flexibly WordPress builders like BeaverBuilder offer.
Custom Style Settings: Developers will be able to create bespoke style settings, connecting them to CSS properties for even more customisation options.
Data Sources for Theme Blocks: This will simplify data connections for theme blocks, making it easier to hook up data even in complex, nested layouts.
Flex Sections: This upcoming feature will allow merchants to customise layouts through drag-and-drop functionality, resizing and grouping content with ease.
These planned features showcase Shopify's commitment to user-friendly design and customisations, helping it rival the level of design flexibility you get on platforms like WooCommerce and Magento. We think the Summer '24 Shopify Edition represents a significant step forward in store design. With these new features, Shopify is making it easier than ever for merchants to create unique, responsive, and visually appealing online stores without the need for extensive coding knowledge. Which can at this time be a frustration for brands looking to move away their current platform and choosing between WooCommerce and Shopify moving forward.
We're excited about these developments and how they can benefit our clients. Whether you're considering migrating to Shopify or looking to optimise your existing Shopify store, these new features offer exciting possibilities for enhancing your online presence. Keep an eye on our blog for more updates as we continue to explore and implement these new features. If you're interested in learning how these changes can benefit your specific e-commerce needs, don't hesitate to reach out to our team for more details!
