Transforming Your Shopify Featured Product Layout: A Quirky Adventure in Coding

Once upon a time, in the depths of e-commerce land, Ruby and I embarked on a seemingly simple quest. We had but one mission: to make our Shopify store's Featured Product section look like it belonged in a chic boutique rather than a chaotic flea market. Picture tiny thumbnails lining up obediently alongside the main product image—neat, tidy, and waiting for a gentle nudge from our freshly clicked navigation arrows. We envisioned this elegant layout, but alas, reality was much less... polished.

The thumbnails were behaving quite mischievously, stacking themselves beneath the main image like unruly children at three tiers deep. Grumbling, we rolled up our sleeves and dove into the world of liquid code, CSS, and impending confusion. Let’s walk through this amusing tale, yes?

The Quest Begins: Aligning Thumbnails Horizontally

First things first, Ruby and I knew we had to dig into the code files behind our alluring Shopify facade. Between sips of the strongest coffee we could find, we creaked open the Theme Editor like ancient treasure trove hunters.

{% comment %}
  We started by locating the `product-template.liquid` file, where the golden ticket to our layout adjustments awaited us.
{% endcomment %}

{% assign product = all_products['my-featured-product'] %}
<div class="product-images">
  <div class="main-image">
    <!-- Main image code -->
  </div>
  <div class="thumbnail-images">
    {% for image in product.images %}
    <img src="{{ image | img_url: 'small' }}" class="thumbnail" />
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
</div>

There was a lively debate about the styling. Ruby suggested—quite wisely, I must admit—that we append some custom CSS to our venture’s trajectory to make those thumbnails line up like tiny soldiers.

.thumbnail-images {
  display: flex;
  overflow-x: scroll;
  white-space: nowrap;
}

.thumbnail {
  display: inline-block;
  margin-right: 10px;
}

And don’t forget—we nearly did—the navigation arrows. Ruby, ever the clever code whisperer, added:

<div class="nav-arrows">
  <span class="prev-arrow">&lt;</span>
  <span class="next-arrow">&gt;</span>
</div>

A touch of JavaScript magic sprinkled on top would handle these newly minted arrows to escort the thumbnails along their sliding journey:

document.querySelector('.next-arrow').addEventListener('click', function () {
  const container = document.querySelector('.thumbnail-images')
  container.scrollLeft += 100
})

document.querySelector('.prev-arrow').addEventListener('click', function () {
  const container = document.querySelector('.thumbnail-images')
  container.scrollLeft -= 100
})

There, at last, they were horizontal and scrollable. With this triumph, we knew our dreams of a polished product display were becoming less of a mirage.

The Mystery of the Variant Media

But hold on—our journey was not yet over. A perplexing riddle remained unsolved: the variant images stubbornly refused to change upon selection. Ruby, armed with determination and a hint of mischief, delved deeper into the swirling source code, wielding the powers of JavaScript.

We had overlooked linking the selection of variants to the magic of media swapping. Ruby pored over her notes, murmuring about the sorcery of event listeners. To our relief and amazement, the answer lay in a few lines, almost blushing at their simplicity:

document.querySelectorAll('.variant-selector').forEach(function (selector) {
  selector.addEventListener('change', function () {
    const selectedVariant = this.value
    showVariantMedia(selectedVariant)
  })
})

function showVariantMedia(variantId) {
  document.querySelectorAll('.product-image').forEach(function (image) {
    if (image.dataset.variantId === variantId) {
      image.style.display = 'block'
    } else {
      image.style.display = 'none'
    }
  })
}

Once this code became part of our masterpiece, the variant images danced in tune with our selections. At that moment, the store became a realm of grace and efficiency, where images behaved as they were commanded.

Reflections on Our Coding Odyssey

Ah, the elation of a well-organized product page! As Ruby and I stood back, admiring our handiwork amidst the scattered coffee cups and tangled charging cables, I marveled at how a day-long detour into the world of Shopify coding could turn into a fun-filled escapade.

The takeaways were abundant: coding can be quirky and products deserve to shine in their full glory. We transformed a task into a triumph, and in doing so, discovered new depths to our perseverance (and a shared love for birthing elegant layouts).

There you have it, our playful plunge and victorious ascent from chaos to calm—a little adventure in making a Shopify store feel like our cozy corner of the internet universe.