What are some topics all Shopify Theme Developers should know?

Online Store and Theme Development
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Hey everyone, I’ve been a Shopify Plus Developer for the past 3 years and noticed there is a pretty big gap in the learning materials and resources for people trying to get into Shopify Development.

There are tons of resources about how to learn the basics of Shopify Liquid but there isn’t much information about the more advanced, “weird” or not well documented parts of how Shopify works.

Shopify provides their documentation and there are lots of blog posts and videos but oftentimes whenever I am dealing with a problem, I have no idea who to ask about it or where to start looking for a solution.

So with that in mind, I wanted to put together some resources and videos on YouTube for people that know web development basics but want to learn Shopify Theme Development.

I have a list of topics below. Please let me know which of these topics you think is a must know vs. a Nice to know .

Also if I missed something that you think could be valuable, please let me know.

Here’s the list.

Beginner Topics:

  • Shopify Liquid Basics
  • Shopify Theme File Structure
  • Working with the Shopify CLI
  • How to add 3rd party javascript and css into a theme
  • Shopify Sections and Blocks (and how to add your own)
  • Shopify Global Theme Settings
  • Working with Shopify Objects on specific page types
  • Working with the Shopify Ajax API with JavaScript
  • Locales and Translation files
  • How to setup a development store
  • Understanding tags and metafields
  • Creating alternate json or liquid templates for different page types
  • Metafields vs. Tags

More Advanced Topics:

  • Using JavaScript in Shopify Themes
  • Dealing with cumulative layout shift and balancing apps with core page speed metrics
  • Using Cart and Sections API
  • Using Shopify Flow
  • Pagination inside of a Shopify Theme (including infinite scroll)
  • Making use of browser APIs such as DOM Parser, Browser Resize Observer, Mutation Observer, Local Storage, etc…
  • Understanding Native Web Components and how to use them in a theme
  • How to break apart and understand code you didn’t write
  • When to build something custom vs. use what is available on the market
  • Real world examples of some of the more complex things on this list (Ex: Wishlist, Lead Magnet form that tags customers in Shopify and Klaviyo, etc…)
  • Deep Dive into understanding more about how Shopify Dawn works and how to customize it
  • Handling theme updates with Github and Git version control

Please let me know what you all think.

1 Like
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Hey Patrick!

Great to see you here - honestly everything in your list feels like topics that theme devs should be familiar with. I like the idea of the “Real world examples” - I’d have that higher up in the list, as I think it’s important to see authentic examples as early as possible, after learning the basics. One thing that’s also worth adding could be around theme app extensions - a great (and not too difficult way) for theme devs to expand knowledge / skills is to learn how to customise themes with apps using theme app extensions, as this can be a way to apply theme expertise in a different direction, eg: app store/ custom apps for clients.

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Hey Liam, thanks for taking the time to respond to this post.
The list above is pretty everything I’ve encountered in the last 3 years of working as a theme developer. I’m glad to hear that you think it covers everything that most developers would need.

And thanks for the feedback on the real world examples. I’ll move that closer to the top of the list like you suggested.