Shopify Online Store 2.0 sections, explained for store owners

Store owners often pay a developer to move a banner, add a reviews row to a product page or build a seasonal landing page. On an Online Store 2.0 theme, much of that is work your own team can do in the theme editor. How far you get depends on the sections your theme provides, so it helps to know how the pieces fit together.

What is Online Store 2.0?

Online Store 2.0 is the set of theme features Shopify announced in 2021 that lets you add, remove and reorder sections on most pages of your store from the theme editor. It is built on JSON templates. Each template is a data file that lists which sections appear on a type of page, in what order and with what settings, instead of fixing the layout in code. Shopify's stated aim is that merchants can change many more parts of a store without relying on a developer.

What can your team change without a developer?

Anything the theme offers as a section, block or setting. In the theme editor you can:

• Add a section to a page, then move, hide, duplicate or delete it.
• Add, remove and reorder blocks inside a section, such as the slides in a banner or the questions in an FAQ.
• Edit the header and footer areas where the theme builds them as section groups, which accept sections too.
• Change text, images, colours and links in each section's settings.

Changes made this way also survive theme updates. When you update to a new version of your theme, Shopify copies your theme editor customizations into the updated copy, which waits in your draft themes until you publish it. Code edits only come across if they don't conflict with the update, which is a good reason to keep routine changes in the editor.

When do you need a new template?

When one group of pages needs a different layout from the rest. Many stores run on a single product template. If a product range needs something different, such as bundles with a comparison table, you create a new template in the theme editor based on an existing one, then assign it to those products through the Theme template setting on each product in the admin. Collections and pages work the same way, and changing the new template doesn't affect pages that use the original.

Where do apps fit in?

Apps built with theme app extensions add app blocks that you place inside your sections, without editing theme code. A product reviews or ratings app, for example, appears in the theme editor as a block you add and position like any other. If you add it as a new section instead, Shopify wraps it in a section called Apps. App blocks only work in sections that support them, and not in sections the theme renders statically.

What still needs a developer?

Anything your theme doesn't already offer, because the theme editor can only arrange what exists. The usual cases:

• A new kind of section, such as a size comparison table or a store locator. A developer writes it in Liquid and gives it settings your team then controls.
• A section that can't be moved or removed. Statically rendered sections are fixed in the theme code, so the editor can't remove or reorder them.
• A section missing from the Add section list. A section needs a preset in its schema before the theme editor can offer it.
• A change the settings don't allow, such as a different layout inside an existing section.

When we build custom sections, we give them plain names and only the settings a team will actually use, so the editor stays easy to read.

How do you make bigger changes safely?

Work on a copy. Duplicate the theme, make and check the changes on the copy, then publish it when you are happy. Shopify recommends keeping a backup copy like this so you can discard your changes and start again if you need to. If you do edit code, keep a note of every change, so it can be carried over by hand if a theme update doesn't include it.

Where to start

Open the theme editor on your busiest product page and list the changes you'd make if you could. Whatever the editor can already do, your team can start on today. What it can't do usually comes down to one or two custom sections. Our Shopify stores service builds those sections and templates, or send us the list.