BlingRush has made a decision not to modify the store’s theme templates. Actually, we don’t even ask for theme template modification permission when the store installs the app.
We have made this decision mainly for the following reasons
- Prior to Shopify 2.0 templates, Shopify did not provide a way to remove changes made in the app’s theme templates when a store chooses to uninstall the app. So it means that apps that modify the theme will leave garbage at the store long after you uninstall them.
- Themes can be developed in any way chosen by the developer (at the end of the day, it is web development). We do not want to take any chances that our widget will break your custom-developed theme in any way.
- Nobody likes letting strangers touch their things…
BlingRush has created its storefront widget using a Shopify feature which is called ScriptTag to support older themes plus we have added 2.0 support with our own app blocks that the store can use to push changes to its theme without breaking it.
A ScriptTag is a script of an app that Shopify injects into the storefront that is executed whenever one of the store pages is loaded.
This is an excellent way of presenting data to the store’s customers without changing the theme. However, this approach has a few limitations
- It takes a few seconds after the loading of each page and until the script is executed. This may cause the user to experience a delay in loading data in the contest pages.
- The ScriptTag mechanism is totally disconnected from the context of the site. Meaning when the script loads, it needs to query the server to get details about where it runs and if and what data it needs to present to the customer.
- The store does not have full control over the presentation and positioning of the different elements and panels rendered by the widget. This issue is partly addressed using the customization forms of the BlingRush app. However, It may be hard to implement complex UI scenarios.
Although the BlingRush app works out of the box and is highly customizable, we have added the option for a store to manually modify its own templates and reach any level of customization it desires.
In order to modify the templates for an older Shopify theme, you will need to have at least basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and liquid development. For newer themes, you will be able to drag and drop our app blocks to your templates.
In our knowledge base, you will find information on changing any one of our features using either customization or theme modifications.