My best friend wants to start an online store selling digital products on Shopify, and since I have programming skills (a bit of JS, Python, and React), he asked if I could help him set it up. The challenge is that I have no prior experience with Shopify, and he wants the site to look nicer than the standard templates—something akin to the site here: https://swipehype.io/. I'm wondering if I can learn enough in about a month to do this. Is it feasible, or should I consider this too ambitious considering my skill set? Also, he's willing to pay me around $1000 for this work, which makes me want to push through and try my best!
5 Answers
Creating a theme on Shopify doesn’t have to be complicated. Follow the guides on their site to get started, and you’ll need a bit of command-line knowledge, but it's pretty straightforward. For Liquid functions, I recommend visiting the Liquid documentation—it’s extremely helpful!
Shopify is quite user-friendly, so if you already know how to code, you should be able to whip up a basic site relatively quickly. You can always start with a template and customize it from there. Don't forget to check the Shopify documentation; it really breaks everything down for you!
I'm a bit confused. You say you're experienced in web development, but the example site seems quite simple. Are you really worried about being able to create something like that?
As a developer, you’ll have a leg up when learning Shopify! Yes, it might take a bit to get everything just right, especially if you’re aiming for a specific look. But with some research and practice, you can definitely figure it out. Just remember that the checkout process is pretty strict, so plan accordingly!
I learned Shopify on the go too! During lockdown, I had to get up to speed quickly. Working with Liquid (Shopify's templating language) is manageable, and there are tons of resources out there. Just dive in and start experimenting—you'll pick it up fast!
Any tips on how to get started with Liquid specifically?
That's true, but I want my site to look like the one I mentioned. Do you think that's doable with templates?