Your platform

The admin, the content model and the theme system of your platform: what a client will see every day and what you will customise.

What: Where a merchant manages products, orders, customers, discounts, payments, shipping, taxes, staff and the online store theme.
Why: Most of a store is configured, not coded. Knowing the admin well lets you solve many requests without touching a theme.

Watch out

Writing theme code for something a setting or a free Shopify feature already handles.

Also called SKU, smart collection, automated collection, variants

What: A product has up to many variants (size, colour) each with its own price, SKU and stock. Collections group products manually or automatically by conditions such as tag or type.
Why: Clean product data drives navigation, filters, search and SEO. Automated collections stay correct as products are added.
Example: An automated collection with the condition "product tag is summer" fills itself whenever the merchant tags a new product.

Also called OS 2.0, JSON templates, sections everywhere

What: The theme architecture where templates are JSON files listing sections, so merchants can add, remove and reorder sections on any page in the theme editor.
Why: It lets merchants build new landing pages without a developer, and lets apps add blocks without editing theme code.

What: Sections are reusable modules of a page with their own settings. Blocks are smaller repeatable pieces inside a section, such as slides or feature items.
Why: Good settings turn one well built section into many layouts the merchant controls safely.

Watch out

Hard coding copy in a section instead of exposing it as a setting the merchant can edit.

Also called reference theme, Dawn, Horizon, Skeleton theme

What: Themes Shopify publishes as source code. Dawn introduced Online Store 2.0, Horizon is the newer family built on theme blocks, and shopify theme init starts from the minimal Skeleton theme.
Why: Reading their code is the fastest way to learn modern theme patterns and performance habits.

Watch out

Copying patterns from old paid themes built before Online Store 2.0.

Also called Shopify App Store

What: Apps add features such as reviews, subscriptions or bundles. Judge them by reviews, support, pricing, what data they access and how they load on the storefront.
Why: Every app can add scripts, monthly fees and data access. Uninstalled apps can leave code behind in older themes.

Watch out

Installing an app for each small feature until the store is slow and costs more in apps than in its plan.

Also called Shopify Partners, dev store, collaborator access, development store, Shopify Partner Program

What: The Shopify Partner Program gives developers free development stores to build and test in, and collaborator access to request entry to client stores.
Why: You build without paying for a plan, then hand over or transfer the store, and the client owns their account from the start.

Watch out

Asking a client for their owner password instead of sending a collaborator request.

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