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In This Article:
How to Optimize Performance of Custom Shopify Themes
JavaScript Optimization
Prevent Namespace Conflicts
Reduce the Use of JavaScript
Parser-Blocking
Preload Primary Resources
Resource Hint Opportunities
Responsive Images
Shopify Theme Inspector Plugin for Chrome
Theme Check
Shopify Hosting Servers
Online Store Page Optimization
The most stunning online store theme cannot help you boost sales if it performs so poorly that it sends your shoppers bouncing over to better-functioning sites. But, when visitors click open the door of your online storefront and enter a highly appealing retail space with exceptional functionality, they’re impressed and want to look around.
So, of course, when you adopt, build, or customize Shopify stores, or modify an e-commerce theme for your Shopify store, by all means, develop it with performance as your priority.
Optimized performance is a primary driver of retail success online. It’s fair to say that everything else you do before and after you start selling on Shopify depends on it. The behavior of your site’s theme components, along with its product ordering and sales transaction processes, are the elements of the overall customer experience. Together, these yield your new and repeat sales and your search engine rankings.
How to Optimize Performance of Custom Shopify Themes
Every theme evaluated by the Shopify Theme Store experts is tested on the standard-bearing shop model to assess its attributes and comprehensively score its performance. A submitted theme must receive an average score of 60 in Lighthouse for the homepage, single product page, and product group collection page. You can test your theme yourself with a development store template.
To optimize the performance of your customized Shopify store theme:
- Select a fast theme. Choose a theme that is optimally fast functioning, like Plak, Booster, Loft, or another theme that is optimized for excellent responsiveness.
- Disable unnecessary features. Eliminate theme features that offer too little to the customer experience.
- Disable rarely used apps. Eliminate apps and other software programs that you don’t often use.
- Reduce image file sizes. Delete hidden image data, unnecessary metadata, etc..
- Choose system fonts. Minimize lag time caused by custom fonts that are auto-downloading to the user’s devices.
- Minify the coding. Eliminate programming characters that do not affect functionality and that you do not need from JS and CSS.
- Minimize the use of JavaScript. Reduce your need to rely on external coding libraries and development frameworks.
- Minimize HTTP requests to servers. For shoppers visiting your Shopify store for the first time, this saves response time as their interactions prompt initial downloads of all the resources they need to interact with your site. (Those are merely loaded from their browser’s cache in future visits.)
Shopify Theme Optimization Best Practices
Optimal page performance is essential for online store operators in choosing a Shopify theme. So, again, make it your priority to customize themes for Shopify. Ease of usability is key to successful customer engagement and satisfaction, on which every e-commerce store depends for generating revenue and ranking on search engine SERPs. Shopify applies these theme optimization best practices as primary principles to the design of the Dawn resource:
Optimize your JavaScript
- Reduce JavaScript usage. It is typically unnecessary for fundamental theme functionality, for example, for locating products or making purchase transactions.
- Minify JavaScript to a maximum bundle size of 16 KB. Shopify minifies JavaScript automatically.
- Optimize JavaScript use for Shopify theme performance.
- Use CSS and HTML as much as possible for developing your theme. Use JavaScript only if there is not a faster HTML or CSS alternative.
Prevent Namespace Conflicts
Theme developers minifying JavaScript may frequently rename JavaScript variables to shorten them. That can lead to name conflicts due to inadvertently duplicated names. Namespaces enable builders of custom Shopify themes to separate variables into their containment to avert name conflicts online.
To avoid namespace duplications on the internet, wrap JavaScript values in a function scope. Values are available only within the scope of a defined function, so there's no risk of duplication of other variables that are defined online.
Enclose scripts in an IIFE before inserting them into Shopify themes to avoid namespace conflicts.
Reduce the Use of JavaScript
If you must use JavaScript, try to refrain from integrating third-party frameworks like Angular, React, Vue, etc., or other dependencies. For example, opt for using updated Direct Object Model (DOM) APIs and browser features, and existing browser features vs. JavaScript libraries. Including the latter can result in over-sized bundles, which means slower load times and a negatively impacted customer experience.
Don’t Use Parser-Blocking
Using parser-blocking JavaScript scripts blocks the development of the DOM until the scripts are loaded and parsed. Further, they can cause network congestion and delay the rendering of the page. This impacts the amount of time it takes for a user to see anything on the page, a key page performance metric. So, code “async” or “await” on your script tags to postpone the execution of JavaScript parsing and allow higher priority events to proceed unimpeded.
Preload Primary Resources
By preloading resources, you can prompt the browser to download the priority resources before they are impeded. Use system resources and opt to load lower-priority resources afterward to help shrink the initial resource package size that must be fully downloaded to enable a shopper to interact with your page.
Utilize Resource Hint Opportunities
When coding containing preload instructions renders a Shopify page a customer has clicked to access, it sends a hint for preloading resources with future requests. Use these only as needed for initial page functionality, such as rendering the header section or the sections above the fold. You can use only two of these resource coding hints per template.
Use Responsive Images
Trying to view large images on small, hand-held devices can cause very slow page load speeds. Using responsive images enables automatic resizing to make images fit small screens and preserve the image quality and minimize dependency on browsers for scaling images.
Therefore, you should employ responsive images to your Shopify theme for more elaborate visual effects. You can add those by coding in the “image_tag” filter. That filter yields an src set, i.e., a path for the display of an image. What does this mean, for example, if a customer can be anticipated to want to order a product in one of your collections based on pricing?
It means you should implement the use of responsive images before looping through the products in question, vs merely including them in the loop code. This strategy avoids having the customer wait while the system calculates the order of the products as part of its processing to produce a response to the user’s request.
Use the Shopify Theme Inspector Plugin for Chrome
Apply this theme inspection tool to pinpoint coding that is causing the slow performance of pages on your e-commerce site. The inspection tool produces data visualizations of Liquid modifications to help the theme developer identify the specific lines of code that are causing the slow performance of pages in your Shopify store.
See Shopify Theme Inspector for Chrome for detailed information on analyzing your Liquid programming and template design language tool set for Shopify store theme editors.
Use Theme Check
To check for potential performance problems in the coding of your Shopify theme, which includes JS and large CSS bundles, parser-blocking JavaScript, etc., use Theme Check. See your Web Performance dashboard to learn how well your Shopify store is performing per e-commerce industry load-time standards and other metrics for Core Web Vitals, such as user interactivity, stability of visual images, etc. Tools for theme quality checking include:
- PerformanceEvents and PerformanceMetrics yield data for internet performance metrics and Shopify data.
- Data from Real User Monitoring (RUM) delivers highly useful insights on performance issues and solutions.
- Google Lighthouse provides site speed scores for desktop and mobile. Just follow the convenient instructions for running the report on each of your Shopify site pages.
Shopify Hosting Servers
You should use the Shopify Content Delivery Network (CDN) as much as possible to consolidate all of your assets with a single hosting server system to prevent avoidable HTTP connections. This strategy enables delivery prioritization and blocking resources, with delivery driven by set HTTP/2 priorities.
To accomplish this, place the assets in question into your theme's folder. You can do that by employing the Asset REST Admin API or manually via GitHub integration. Use URL filters to set up links to the assets in the theme's folder.
Online Store Page Optimization
To review your website performance, use the Store Performance page, accessible through your Partners dashboard and Shopify Dashboard page. From there, you can access the Stores page, and from there, click View Store Performance to reach the drag-and-drop options and coding tools you need for optimizing the performance of your Shopify site pages with free themes.
Transform Agency Services
The Transform Agency provides comprehensive e-commerce site development, including customization services and help with Shopify theme design, Shopify theme editor services, and other support for your Shopify admin.
For information about theme customization options or how to start a free trial of Shopify call Transform Agency Services experts at +(48) 571 480 180, or reach us right here at our website.
Expert in ecommerce website development topics. Skilled SEO Specialist with a proven track record of improving website visibility and search engine rankings. Experienced in keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, link building, and content strategy development. Passionate about staying updated with the latest SEO trends and algorithm changes to ensure optimal online presence.
Experienced SEO Specialist with a proven track record of improving website visibility and search engine rankings. Skilled in keyword research, on-page and off-page optimization, link building, and content strategy development. Passionate about staying updated with the latest SEO trends and algorithm changes to ensure optimal online presence.
