Themes and front-end
Sections and blocks
Sections are the modules of a Shopify template that a client can add, reorder and configure from the editor; blocks are the pieces that go inside a section. Since Online Store 2.0 they work on any template, and they are what makes a theme maintainable without a developer.
Also called: sections, blocks, theme sections, Online Store 2.0
This is the part of theme work that does not show in the mockup and decides whether the project ages well. Two themes can look identical on delivery day: on one the client builds a landing page in twenty minutes, on the other they ask for a quote every time.
How to split sections
One section per page intention, not per row of the design. If the design has three text-and-image bands that differ only in which side the photo is on, that is not three sections: it is one with a position setting.
The opposite mistake is just as common: one giant section with forty settings. If the client needs a manual to use it, the section is split wrong.
What makes a section actually useful
- Sensible defaults. A freshly added section has to look right before anything is configured.
- Capped blocks. A carousel that accepts 30 blocks will end up with 30 blocks.
- Copy in settings, not in code. Everything the client might one day want to change.
- Names in their language. “Featured band”, not “hero_section_2”.
Where they meet content
When the data a section shows repeats across pages, it does not belong in the settings: it belongs in metaobjects, with the section referencing them. The client edits the data once and it changes everywhere it appears.
Documentation: theme sections.