A Simple Trick to Personalize Your Shopify Menu Coloring a Single Item

One evening, with a cup of hot cocoa in hand, I sat in my small but cozy home office. The cat—Mittens—curled up in my lap and purred softly as I stared at my computer screen, tweaking the look and feel of our online store. Something still felt missing. That's when it hit me: making one of the menu items pop! Like a tiny, rebellious splash of color on an otherwise monochrome palette. We’ve all been there, haven't we? When that one element silently pleads for its chance to shine? Our friend over at the Shopify forum had the right idea, but how exactly do we add that splash of color to just one menu item like they wanted with "Contact?" Let's delve in.

Remember that time you wandered into a candy store? Amongst a hundred different kinds of candies, there was one conspicuous piece wrapped in bright red foil that you just couldn't resist picking up. This memory echoes the essence of our task. We aim to make "Contact" that irresistible piece. Here's how to achieve this spotlight moment without derailing the entire color scheme.

Step 1: Enter the Land of Themes

Firstly, we embark on a journey to our Shopify Admin. Feel that ever-so-slight thrill as you navigate to 'Online Store' and then to 'Themes'. It’s like setting off on a grand adventure, but instead of dragons, we face customization options.

Step 2: Accessing Code Without the Scary Bits

Here’s our quest: find the 'Actions' dropdown located next to our live theme. Click it. Then, float down gently to 'Edit Code'. This realm is filled with lines and lines of text—but fear not! We’ll only touch what we must. Like choosing the correct steps in a dance.

Step 3: Finding the Needle in the Haystack (theme.scss.liquid)

Our path takes us to 'Assets’. Once there, locate the style sheet named theme.scss.liquid or perhaps it’s styles.scss.liquid if Shopify is feeling cheeky. Open it, and behold the cascade of cascading style sheets! It’s here we’ll make magic happen.

Step 4: Create the Spell (CSS Magic)

Every story involves a bit of magic, doesn’t it? We’ll craft our spell within these curly brackets {}. Find a space toward the bottom or maybe between two existing styles, and type—or perhaps mutter if you feel it helps out the vibe:

.nav-bar .site-nav__item--contact a {
    color: red; /* or any color you fancy */
}

Our hero here is .site-nav__item--contact, a CSS class we’ll need to add to the "Contact" menu item. Choose your color—maybe your unforgettable red candy color!

Step 5: Save Your Kingdom

Practically vibrating in your chair, excitement mounting at what you’ve just done, hit that shiny save button. It’s as victorious a moment as when Frodo navigated Mount Doom. Well, almost. Because we still need that class added in HTML.

Step 6: Final Touches in the HTML

Your menu items might be controlled in a separate liquid file like header.liquid or even navigation.liquid. Identify the template containing your navigation links. The ul, li, and a tags are the lands where we’ll leave our mark.

Modify the 'Contact' list item link to:

<li class="site-nav__item site-nav__item--contact">
  <a href="/contact" class="site-nav__link">Contact</a>
</li>

By adding site-nav__item--contact, we’ve completed our spell, set upon enhancing visibility of "Contact."

There's that moment, right after the deed is done, when we lean back in our chair and smile. It’s akin to adding the final accent to a painting. Subtle yet impactful. Though our quest was singular in detail—focusing on just one menu item—it transforms the experience for us and for visitors, giving them an intuitive nudge toward our highlighted destination.

Much like Mittens makes me love my little workspace more every day, your single splash of color will brighten your store’s navigation.

May this colorful trick stand you in good stead as you continue to cultivate your store's aesthetic. Remember! It’s about those little details. They create the journey—or the adventure, really—and make every stop memorable.

Until our next coding escapade, happy modifying!