Dawn Theme - Change multi column slider controls to dots

Topic summary

Goal: switch mobile slider controls in Dawn (Shopify’s default theme) from numeric counters (e.g., 1/3) to dot pagination across sections (multicolumn, featured collection, featured blog).

What worked initially:

  • Multicolumn and collection list: edit sections/multicolumn.liquid to remove the numeric counter markup and output dot links via a loop; modify Assets/global.js (SliderComponent) to activate and sync dot controls.
  • Featured collection and featured blog: remove the numeric counter blocks in their section files and add loops. Note: featured blog must loop over blog.articles (not collection products), as corrected by the OP.

Later developments (compatibility/regressions):

  • A theme update appears to break the earlier global.js override. An alternative SliderComponent class was shared to restore dot behavior.
  • A subsequent report claims the new JS “doesn’t work,” and it also breaks the mobile menu (burger) on mobile.

Key technical notes:

  • “Dots” = pagination bullets; global.js controls all sliders; sections referenced: multicolumn, featured-collection, featured-blog.
  • Screenshots are central for visual differences between controls.

Status: partially solved earlier; later updates introduced breakage. No confirmed final fix; unresolved/ongoing.

Summarized with AI on December 30. AI used: gpt-5.

Possibly due to an update to Shopify’s code, the global.js code no longer works. Instead use:

class SliderComponent extends HTMLElement {
  constructor() {
    super();
    this.slider = this.querySelector('[id^="Slider-"]');
    this.sliderItems = this.querySelectorAll('[id^="Slide-"]');
    this.enableSliderLooping = false;
    this.currentPageElement = this.querySelector('.slider-counter--current');
    this.pageTotalElement = this.querySelector('.slider-counter--total');
    this.prevButton = this.querySelector('button[name="previous"]');
    this.nextButton = this.querySelector('button[name="next"]');

    if (!this.slider || !this.nextButton) return;

    this.initPages();
    const resizeObserver = new ResizeObserver(entries => this.initPages());
    resizeObserver.observe(this.slider);

    this.slider.addEventListener('scroll', this.update.bind(this));
    this.prevButton.addEventListener('click', this.onButtonClick.bind(this));
    this.nextButton.addEventListener('click', this.onButtonClick.bind(this));
    
    this.sliderControlWrapper = this.querySelector('.slider-buttons');

    if (!this.sliderControlWrapper) return;
    this.sliderFirstItemNode = this.slider.querySelector('.slideshow__slide');

    
    this.sliderControlLinksArray = Array.from(this.sliderControlWrapper.querySelectorAll('.slider-counter__link'));
    this.sliderControlLinksArray.forEach(link => link.addEventListener('click', this.linkToSlide.bind(this)));
  }

  initPages() {
    this.sliderItemsToShow = Array.from(this.sliderItems).filter(element => element.clientWidth > 0);
    if (this.sliderItemsToShow.length < 2) return;
    this.sliderItemOffset = this.sliderItemsToShow[1].offsetLeft - this.sliderItemsToShow[0].offsetLeft;
    this.slidesPerPage = Math.floor(this.slider.clientWidth / this.sliderItemOffset);
    this.totalPages = this.sliderItemsToShow.length - this.slidesPerPage + 1;
    this.update();
  }

  resetPages() {
    this.sliderItems = this.querySelectorAll('[id^="Slide-"]');
    this.initPages();
  }

  update() {
    const previousPage = this.currentPage;
    this.currentPage = Math.round(this.slider.scrollLeft / this.sliderItemOffset) + 1;

    if (this.currentPageElement && this.pageTotalElement) {
      this.currentPageElement.textContent = this.currentPage;
      this.pageTotalElement.textContent = this.totalPages;
    }

    if (this.currentPage != previousPage) {
      this.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent('slideChanged', { detail: {
        currentPage: this.currentPage,
        currentElement: this.sliderItemsToShow[this.currentPage - 1]
      }}));
    }

    if (this.enableSliderLooping) return;

    if (this.isSlideVisible(this.sliderItemsToShow[0])) {
      this.prevButton.setAttribute('disabled', 'disabled');
    } else {
      this.prevButton.removeAttribute('disabled');
    }

    if (this.isSlideVisible(this.sliderItemsToShow[this.sliderItemsToShow.length - 1])) {
      this.nextButton.setAttribute('disabled', 'disabled');
    } else {
      this.nextButton.removeAttribute('disabled');
    }
    
    
    this.sliderControlButtons = this.querySelectorAll('.slider-counter__link');
    this.prevButton.removeAttribute('disabled');

    if (!this.sliderControlButtons.length) return;

    this.sliderControlButtons.forEach(link => {
      link.classList.remove('slider-counter__link--active');
      link.removeAttribute('aria-current');
    });
    this.sliderControlButtons[this.currentPage - 1].classList.add('slider-counter__link--active');
    this.sliderControlButtons[this.currentPage - 1].setAttribute('aria-current', true);
    
  }

  isSlideVisible(element, offset = 0) {
    const lastVisibleSlide = this.slider.clientWidth + this.slider.scrollLeft - offset;
    return (element.offsetLeft + element.clientWidth) <= lastVisibleSlide && element.offsetLeft >= this.slider.scrollLeft;
  }

  onButtonClick(event) {
    event.preventDefault();
    const step = event.currentTarget.dataset.step || 1;
    this.slideScrollPosition = event.currentTarget.name === 'next' ? this.slider.scrollLeft + (step * this.sliderItemOffset) : this.slider.scrollLeft - (step * this.sliderItemOffset);
    this.slider.scrollTo({
      left: this.slideScrollPosition
    });
  }
  
  setSlidePosition(position) {
    this.slider.scrollTo({
      left: position,
    });
  }
}