Finding the Right Separator: Customizing Your Shopify Page Titles

Ah, the little things we take for granted. I remember the time I was trying to make my Shopify store's page titles look like neat, orderly rows of tiny soldiers—only to find them on parade with ugly, out-of-place hyphens instead of those dashing pipe characters I wanted. Who knew something so small could cause such a big, collective sigh from our entire team? It felt akin to mixing Nikes with a tuxedo—you know, they were doing the job, but didn’t quite look as polished. That's when we decided to take the wheel and fix this small hiccup for good.

Discovering the Problem

Let me take you back to the day when Sam, our number-crunching guru, spilled his coffee with excitement over our site's growing traffic—only to pause, knit his eyebrows, and ask: "Why do our page titles look like something out of 1999?" We all gathered around, glaring at the screen like it just told us we were out of coffee. The issue was clear: the hyphen separating our shop name from the page titles looked bulky. We needed something sleek and sophisticated, like, you know, the pipe character (“|”). So began our mission.

Unearthing Where It Lives

The elusive separator was as evasive as a cat when you're trying to give it a bath. So where does one find this little blighter? Turns out, what's set in the demo theme isn't set in stone—you just gotta dig a little. First step? Let's head over to your Shopify admin panel.

Step 1: Opening Your Theme Code

Navigate to Online Store in the Shopify admin dashboard and select Themes. Here, you'll spot ‘Actions’—click on ‘Edit code’. Many of us walked this path confused, but trust me, it's less cryptic than Tolkien's elvish.

Step 2: Sniff Around for the theme.liquid

In the code editor, access your Layout folder, and pop open theme.liquid. Sam always used to say it was like opening the hood of a car—full of wires and mysterious parts—and honestly, it rings true, but you’re looking for wires labeled "title."

Code Snippet: Identify the Title Tag

<title>{% if title %}{{ title }} - {% endif %}{{ shop.name }}</title>

The moment we identified this, it felt like finding the last puzzle piece under the rug. Notice the hyphen between {{ title }} and {{ shop.name }}? That’s the guy we’re changing.

Step 3: Ultimate Transformation

Replace the hyphen with the pipe character. Simple fix, huge impact. Here’s how it looks in code form:

<title>{% if title %}{{ title }} | {% endif %}{{ shop.name }}</title>

Once done, Sam had this triumphant, superhero-like grin. A sure sign that the IT quest had finally reached its victorious end.

Testing the Change

After making those small code adjustments—which honestly felt like medieval magic—we had to test it. That’s the unwritten rule of our team creed: always test before the party.

Step 4: Save and Preview

Hit that save button like you mean it! Then, refresh your store site. Check the page titles; they should now show the beloved pipe character separating the shop name and page title. It’s like seeing your kid on stage nailing their first recital—except less teary.

The Aftermath

That set of scattered, triumphant victories when the visual quality of your website matches its content—that’s what it felt like when Sam closed his laptop with a satisfied nod. The little pipe character symbolized not just elegance, but also our commitment to details. Through this, we learned that customizing even the nitty-gritty can make your store look more cohesive and professional.

In the end, it was interesting how something so trivial, like a page title separator, made us realize the importance of persistence and curiosity. It's all about taking those small steps—sometimes into the unknown—and coming out a little smarter on the other side. So go ahead and give your store’s title that quick makeover! It's like putting on a fresh suit—simple change, massive impact. You can thank us later over coffee—just don’t spill it like Sam did.