What's So Great About 2.0?

Retired Boards Appdev Store Design
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I’m not a developer, just a store owner. I have done a lot of reading , absorbing as much as I can comprehend about os2.0. So far, all I can determine is that this is apparently some kind of blessing for developers and have found very little info about ‘what’s in it for me?’.

I started to set up the theme, same theme I currently have, just the 2.0 version, and right away noticed a few hurdles and limitations along with some potential upsides. I won’t go into those details, as it’s not important in the scope of what I’m trying to convey. But it seems to me like switching to 2.0 I’m simply trading one set of problems, for a different set of problems.

As a store owner, I haven’t been faced with too many instances at this point where I’m saying, “gosh, If only I could do (this)” . I do have the goal of getting my store load speed up, implementing lazy load, inline critical css, but it seems like none of that will be hindered staying on a traditional theme. Any thoughts?

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For posterity sake, I guess I’ll reply to my own thread with the answer. My question would’ve been a good opportunity for Shopify to chime in and plug the benefits of upgrading to 2.0 theme. Since several months have went by, lots of views to my question and not one answer, it appears that they’ve missed their chance… I’ll do the honors.

So to be clear, if you’re an older store owner and haven’t proactively switched to a 2.0 theme, then you’re still on a Legacy theme. I have switched to 2.0 as of a couple weeks ago. Most legacy themes have a 2.0 version, so all you have to do is go back into the theme store and browse themes, find your theme and you can upgrade to it for free, meaning, you’re not purchasing a new theme.

So let me rephrase my original question: Should I upgrade to 2.0 and why? The answer: Yes, if you’re on a Legacy theme, you should upgrade your store to a 2.0 theme. Because it’s faster. If you monitor your Google Search Console, you might notice warnings (not errors) related to page speed in the page experience section. If you make the upgrade then submit to validate the fix, you’ll likely pass. Remember, any new website coming into Shopify is already on a 2.0, so you’re automatically falling behind by staying where you are, something your competitors would love to see. The 2.0 concept is really setting up the foundation for that ‘next generation’ web standards, and speed is the name of game.

Be prepared for a site rebuild, in terms of design and colors, logos, graphics, slide shows, etc. I salvaged as much graphics from my old theme as I could so I didn’t haven’t totally start over. Many apps will transfer over, some will need tweaks when you go live with it to get them functioning exactly how you like.

Personally, I was getting to the point with my store that I had this long laundry list of crap I wanted to do, and when I upgraded to 2.0, it knocked a bunch of those to do’s off my list. For example, I hated the mobile buttons on my Legacy store, they looked like pill capsules, and were positioned awkwardly, hugging the logo. So I was going to have someone make new buttons, but the 2.0 theme already took care of that with nice looking, well positioned buttons. It’s kinda like looking at an old house that needs the walls gutted, new wiring, bat ■■■■ in the attic, and saying, forget it, just roll a new house onto the lot and bulldoze the old.

There are some limitations, and you have to get adjusted to certain things. For instance, if you designate a /page/ for your home page, you’re used to editing the content the same way you edit other /pages/ or products. This will be different on 2.0. You will no longer pull content from a /page/. Instead, it will all be done in the theme editor.

Be sure to check your Lighthouse speed https://web.dev/measure/ before and after.