Using multiple demos in a single Shopify theme can be an excellent approach to highlight different design possibilities or target different consumer groups. Setting up multiple demos allows you to present alternate layouts, styles or product groups without changing themes or duplicating your Shopify store. This step-by-step article will show you through the process of creating many demos in a single Shopify theme, including theme settings, CSS styling and layout customization. Follow these steps to make your store more flexible and deliver a better user experience for your customers.
1. Create Different Theme Settings for Each Demo
Shopify allows you customize theme parameters including colors, fonts and layouts. You can set up unique setups for each demo and switch between them as needed.
Steps to create different theme settings:
- Go to Online Store > Themes in the Shopify Admin.
- Click on Actions > Edit Code.
- Open the config/settings_schema.json file.
- Add multiple sections in the file to define individual settings for each demo.
[
{
"name": "Demo 1",
"settings": [
{
"type": "text",
"id": "demo_1_title",
"label": "Demo 1 Title"
},
{
"type": "color",
"id": "demo_1_background",
"label": "Demo 1 Background Color"
}
]
},
{
"name": "Demo 2",
"settings": [
{
"type": "text",
"id": "demo_2_title",
"label": "Demo 2 Title"
},
{
"type": "color",
"id": "demo_2_background",
"label": "Demo 2 Background Color"
}
]
}
]
This configuration allows you to change the appearance and feel of each demo separately by changing parameters in the Shopify Admin.
2. Add Demo-Specific Styles in CSS:
Add conditionals for each demo in your theme's theme.css.liquid file.
Example of adding conditional styles:
{% if settings.demo == 'demo_1' %}
body {
background-color: {{ settings.demo_1_background }};
}
{% elsif settings.demo == 'demo_2' %}
body {
background-color: {{ settings.demo_2_background }};
}
{% endif %}
These conditionals allow you to change the background colors, fonts, and other design components to make each demo stand out visually.
3. Use Snippets for Demo-Specific Layouts
Snippets are reusable code blocks in Shopify that can be used to construct demo-specific layouts. Using snippets, you may load unique headers, footers and other parts for each demo.
Example of including demo-specific snippets:
{% if settings.demo == 'demo_1' %}
{% include 'demo-1-header' %}
{% elsif settings.demo == 'demo_2' %}
{% include 'demo-2-header' %}
{% endif %}
This strategy ensures that each demo has a distinct appearance, giving your visitors a more personalized experience.
4. Handle Product/Collection Pages for Each Demo
If you want each demo to highlight a distinct product or collection, use tags or metafields to organize them. This allows us to display certain products for each demo.
Example of customizing product collections:
{% if settings.demo == 'demo_1' %}
{% for product in collections.demo_1_products %}
<!-- Display Demo 1 products -->
{% endfor %}
{% elsif settings.demo == 'demo_2' %}
{% for product in collections.demo_2_products %}
<!-- Display Demo 2 products -->
{% endfor %}
{% endif %}
Using this strategy, you may have separate product offerings for each demo, resulting in a customized purchasing experience based on which demo is active.
5. Test the Demos
After creating various demos, it is critical to test each configuration to ensure that everything works as planned. Switch between the demo options in Shopify Admin and see how the changes affect your store.
Key things to test:
- Check that the demo-specific options (colors, fonts, layout) are applied successfully.
- Check that the snippets load the correct headers, footers, or sections.
- Ensure that the product/collection displays are accurate for each demo.
- To ensure responsiveness, test on many devices (desktop, tablet, and mobile).
By properly testing, you can ensure that the demos deliver a consistent user experience.
Conclusion:-
Setting up multiple demos on a single Shopify theme enables you to cater to diverse consumer preferences, test new layouts and deliver unique shopping experiences—all without the need for additional stores or themes. This method is very handy for theme developers, digital agencies and organizations who wish to try out multiple styles or target different client segments.
This post will show you how to properly deploy numerous demos in one Shopify theme. Make sure to keep testing and adjusting your settings to improve the user experience.