Unique product content

Using product templates to display custom sections with different products

Shopify includes a Default template for all your products. When using this template, you can customize how your products are displayed, the content that's shown. With Online Store 2.0, you can add any of the rich sections included in Pipeline right on your product detail page. This helps you build beautiful and rich product pages.

Since the Default product template is used for all your products, the same supporting assets are shown on all product pages. Luckily there are a couple different methods to change how our product pages appear for different products. Two main methods are:

• Product metafields

• Product templates

The difference between these methods is helpful to understand:

Product metafields

Product metafields can be used to add dynamic content to existing sections and blocks. This method allows you to have a layout that's constant on various product pages but change the content.

An example would be a product detail page with an Image and text section below the product form. The image and text content can be unique for each or multiple products with metafields. However, the layout would not change, only the content.

Product templates

Product templates hold layout information and content. When using multiple product templates, we can have a completely different look for different products.

An example would be product types. If your store is selling a mix of product types like soft goods and hard goods, you may want a completely different layout for each one.

Using product templates for unique layout and content

Adding addition product templates can provide an easy solution to displaying different layout styles and content within your shop. Creating product templates are simple and easy to use. Video walk-thorough on steps to creating product templates in Pipeline:

There are two main steps (easy) involved with working with multiple product templates:

• Create a new product template in the Theme Editor.

• Assign products to the new templates.

After creating new templates, you simply assign them to various products. Create as many templates as needed.

Think of Product templates as tools for building layouts and Metafields for unique content inside those layouts. They can be utilized together.

The video example above is a very basic use of product templates. You won't necessarily need to create a new template for each product. Simply use metafields to change the content in each template and use a couple or a few product templates for the layout. Metafields allow you to change content like images and text (within a section) without the need for another template.