The Themr Blog
Shopify storefronts, conversion, and the app tax
Practical guides on building a Shopify store that looks like your brand and converts — without paying monthly for features your theme should already ship.
Will I lose my customizations if I update my Shopify theme?
Settings, layouts and block content survive a Shopify theme update. Code edits are the one thing that can fail to transfer, and a theme you uploaded yourself does not get updates at all. We counted the 72 stored values a single theme carries to show exactly what is on the line.
Read moreWhat's the difference between a section and a block in Shopify?
A section is a whole horizontal band of a page. A block is one repeating item inside that band. Across 329 section files in our build archive, only 113 accept blocks at all, and the ones that do stop accepting them at a median of five.
Read moreWhy doesn't my Shopify store look like the theme demo?
The theme is not broken and you did not install it wrong. Shopify's own theme store rules say demo imagery doesn't transfer on install, so what you downloaded is the layout with every photo, product and menu slot left empty.
Read moreWhy does my Shopify store say "Translation missing"?
A grey line of text reading Translation missing: en.cart.general.title where a button label should be. Nothing is corrupt and no app broke it. The theme asked the locale file for a word and the locale file had nothing at that address.
Read moreWhy can't I add my app's block to my Shopify theme?
The app installed fine, the setup guide says to add its block to your product page, and the Apps tab in the block picker is empty. Nothing is broken. The section simply never opted in, and one line of schema decides it.
Read moreWhy can't I add a section in the Shopify theme editor?
The section is in your theme folder, it is not in the Add section list, and nothing has gone wrong. Shopify shows a section in that list only when the file asks to be shown, and about three in ten never do. Here is how to tell which case you are in.
Read moreWhy won't my Shopify theme colors change when I edit the setting?
You changed Primary color, hit save, and the store looks identical. The setting is almost certainly working. It is reaching a CSS variable that most of your theme's rules never mention, and here is how to find out how much of your page it actually controls.
Read moreWhy is there blank space around the images in my Shopify theme?
The frame gets its height from your CSS and the photo gets its height from the file. If nothing tells the photo to take the frame's height, the difference shows as empty container, and object-fit cover on its own will not close it.
Read moreWhy will my Shopify mobile menu not open when I tap it?
A mobile menu that does nothing when tapped is almost never missing. It is on the page, it has the open class, and its computed display is still none, because the rule that opens it moves the panel without ever making it displayable.
Read moreWhy is my Shopify homepage blank after I install a theme?
A blank Shopify page is almost never a Liquid error. View the page source first: if your text is in the HTML, a CSS rule is hiding it, and if it is not, the template never asked for it.
Read moreWhy does my Shopify store scroll sideways on mobile?
Horizontal scroll on a phone always traces back to a single element that cannot wrap or cannot shrink. Find it in thirty seconds, then fix the row rather than the container.
Read moreWill I lose my products if I change my Shopify theme?
Your catalog is never stored in the theme, so it cannot be lost when you switch. The things that do reset are theme settings, template layouts and your app blocks.
Read moreWhy won’t my Shopify theme ZIP upload? The 11 errors that cause it
Shopify almost never rejects a theme for a vague reason. It rejects it for one of about eleven specific ones, and every one of them has a short fix.
Read moreAI-generated Shopify theme vs a custom-coded storefront (headless)
Headless earns its cost for a small set of merchants with engineering teams. For everyone else a theme wins on day one. The honest breakdown.
Read moreThe best AI website builder for Shopify (2026 comparison)
Shopify Magic, Wix and Squarespace AI, vibe coding tools, Theme Store themes, and Themr, compared honestly for merchants committed to Shopify.
Read moreCan you build a Shopify store with Lovable, Bolt, or Replit?
They are impressive app builders, but their output cannot become a Shopify theme. Here is where the gap is, and the AI path that stays on Shopify.
Read moreThe best free Shopify themes for 2026 (and what they don’t tell you)
Free Shopify themes are better than ever — but they all share one blind spot. Here is how to choose, and what to do about the gap.
Read moreHow much do Shopify apps really cost? (the hidden monthly tax)
Each app is "just $8/month." Stack the six every store ends up installing and you are paying $780+/year. Here is the real math.
Read moreThe best Shopify Dawn theme alternative (and when Dawn is enough)
Dawn is the safe default — and that is exactly the problem. Here is an honest breakdown of where Dawn falls short and what to use instead.
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