How to Edit Your Magento Theme / Template

Working with a good Magento theme is a great way to get your website up and running quickly, with the option to customize the theme as much or as little as you’d like. There are a few things you need to consider when choosing a theme, and some other important Dos and Don’ts to remember […]

By Caitlin Mekita

Working with a good Magento theme is a great way to get your website up and running quickly, with the option to customize the theme as much or as little as you’d like. There are a few things you need to consider when choosing a theme, and some other important Dos and Don’ts to remember once you’re ready to start working on it. I have worked with lots of different themes on multiple websites for many different products, and I have compiled a list of the most important Dos and Don’ts when it comes to your Magento Theme or Magento Template.

DO choose a theme for your brand

There are hundreds of Magento themes out there. Some of them are designed for extremely specific industries, while others are more blank-canvas types. It’s important to choose the correct theme for your brand. There are a few crucial things you should consider before choosing.

1. The theme’s look. This one is obvious, because you want your theme to reflect your branding or style. Consider whether the theme utilizes a minimalist look, whether the lines are clean, how texture is used, or if there are any background images or patterns. These can all be customized, but try to find something that is close to the feel you are trying to capture.

2. Whether the theme is responsive. There are a couple of reasons that you’d want your website to be responsive. Perhaps you are catering to a younger customer base or one that is known to browse the web on mobile devices. Responsive design will make it easy for those people to order your product. There are also some reasons to save time and money by keeping it non-responsive. If your customer base consists of professionals looking for a particular product with exact specifications, who are taking a lot of time to research their options, and who are generally looking for products at the office or on desktop computers. Because responsive design takes a considerable amount of extra time to develop, I wouldn’t recommend it for certain businesses that just don’t need it.

3. Product presentation. You have a specific product and there are certain things your customers need to know about it. If you own a clothing line, you know that your customers need to see multiple views, they need to be able to zoom in, and they probably also want to see color swatches and options. If you are building a website for a hardware store, you’ll want there to be a table that includes weight, measurements, and functions. A lot of themes are design to include this specific information, so it’s really important for you to consider how a theme handles product presentation.

DON’T make life harder by choosing a theme that’s hard to customize

Make sure your designer looks over potential themes and inspects the documentation and the CSS files. If your designer is experienced with Magento, he or she will be able to tell you whether or not a certain theme will be easy to customize. While you don’t necessarily need to customize your theme, make sure that if you choose to do so, you won’t be wasting time with a theme that isn’t meant to be customized.

DO create a child theme

You must work with a child theme to build your online store. After creating a child theme, edit the CSS file and do any other customization work that you’d like.

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DON’T edit the core files

Magento will fall back on the core files after it utilizes your theme and child theme, so it’s really important that you do not touch any of these files and that they remain intact.

DO customize the CSS and layout files

Modifying the CSS is different for every theme, but in general, it will be your most powerful tool for making your website your own. One thing to consider when modifying the CSS theme is to understand the theme’s current layout styles and to understand how the layout works. While colors, fonts, and backgrounds are simple to customize, the layout probably won’t be, especially if your website is responsive.

DON’T ignore the theme’s built-in capabilities

While it is usually best practice to use the CSS file to modify styles, your theme often has style options in the admin that can help get you off to an easier start. For example, you’ll probably be able to choose a layout style and general color theme. Make sure you explore these options before you start doing your own customization, but don’t feel constricted by them. You must take care to read all of the documentation regarding your theme because some of them include lots of great built-in CMS blocks and layout styles that you can utilize. While you don’t want to depend too much on your theme’s built-in styles, layouts, and functionality, you also don’t want to waste time building a responsive layout or adding a CMS block or rearranging the header when that work has already been done for you.

DO enhance your theme by installing additional functionality with add-ons and extensions

The great thing about Magento and all open source platforms is that there is an extensive community of developers who work on it. Extension companies provide solutions do your most common Magento needs. If your website requires a specific shipping pattern, store location look-up, subscription services, or advanced search, there will be an available extension that you can integrate into the project.

DON’T ignore Magento’s built-in features

Your theme is designed to utilize all of Magento’s excellent built-in features that you should be taking advantage of. Make sure you enable customer reviews and encourage your customers by offering them related products, upsets, and cross-sells.

Customer Success Manager