Introduction to SHOPLINE Themes

SHOPLINE offers a wide selection of free themes tailored to various industries. These pre-built templates provide a strong foundation for your online store, allowing you to customize the look and feel to align with your brand.

This guide walks you through exploring the Theme Shop, managing your theme library, and understanding the core editor tools and store performance metrics.

Exploring the Theme Shop

The Theme Shop offers a variety of professionally designed templates. Choosing a theme that fits your business model is the first step toward engaging your customers and building your brand.

• Official vs. Third-party Themes: 
  • Official Themes: These are high-quality themes developed by the SHOPLINE team. They are designed for optimal performance and are currently free to use. You can identify them by checking the Developer field on the theme introduction page, which will be listed as "SHOPLINE."Choose between free themes developed by SHOPLINE and themes created by our professional partners.
  • Third-party Themes: These are premium themes created by our professional partners. They often feature unique design aesthetics and specialized functions tailored for specific brand needs. These themes are usually paid, and you will see the name of the third-party Developer listed on their introduction page.
• Industry-Specific Categories: To streamline your search, use the category tabs to browse themes tailored to your specific business type. Whether you are in fashion, electronics, or beauty, these curated collections help you find the best visual fit for your store’s industry.

• Theme Versions (OS 3.0 vs. OS 2.1): We highly recommend using OS 3.0 themes for superior performance, section-based customization on all pages, and better app compatibility.

  Note: For a detailed feature-by-feature comparison between these two versions, please refer to the "OS 3.0 vs. OS 2.1 Feature Comparison section" in our "Introduction to Theme OS 3.0" guide.

Choosing a Suitable Theme

Choose a theme that best suits your industry and branding. Follow these steps to explore the right theme for you:

1. From your SHOPLINE admin panel, go to Online Store > Design.
   
2. Go to the Theme Shop tab to search for your preferred theme. Use the category tags to quickly find a theme that fits your industry.
   
3. Click on the theme you're interested in. A new page will open where you can: 
   
   • View the introduction and feature overview of the theme.
   • Click Preview to view the theme on a demo site.
4. Click Add theme (or Free trial for paid themes) to add the theme to your Theme library. 

Managing Your Theme Library

Once you have added themes from the shop, you can manage them within the Online Store > Design > My theme page of your SHOPLINE admin. Themes are categorized into two sections:

• Current Theme: The theme that is currently live and visible to your customers. Only one theme can be published as the current theme at a time.
  
• Theme Library: This is a storage area for themes you have added but not yet published. You can store multiple themes here to:
  
  • Test new designs without affecting your live store.
  • Prepare seasonal themes (e.g., Black Friday or Holiday sales) in advance.
  • Backup previous versions of your site.

Managing Themes via More Options

By clicking the three-dot icon [...] next to any theme—whether it’s the live theme or a theme in the library—you can access several management tools:

• View store (Live theme only): Opens your live online store in a new browser tab to check the current published version.
• Publish (Theme library only): Sets the selected theme as your live theme. Once published, it will replace the current live theme displayed to customers.
  
• Duplicate: Creates an exact copy of your currently published theme. Once clicked, the duplicated version will automatically appear in your Theme library list below. This is highly recommended before making major design or code changes.
• Rename: Changes the theme's name for easier internal management within the admin panel.  This name is not visible to customers.

• Edit default text: Personalize system wording such as copyright notices or localized error messages.

  Note: For detailed instructions on how to customize default text, please refer to the "Customizing Your Store’s Default Text" section in our "Designing Your Store with the Theme Editor" guide.

• Edit & Download code: For technical experts, SHOPLINE provides tools to directly access or backup your theme’s underlying structure. 
  • Edit code: Grants access to the theme's HTML, CSS, and JSON files for advanced modifications.

  • Download code: Allows you to download a ZIP file of your theme's source code for local backup. Once confirmed, a download link will be sent to the email address associated with your admin account.

    Note: For detailed instructions on how to perform these technical edits, please refer to the "Customizing and Downloading Theme Code" section in our "Designing Your Store with the Theme Editor" guide.

• Delete (Theme library only): Permanently removes the selected theme from your Theme library. This option is available only for themes in the library, as the live theme cannot be deleted.