Available later 2019, the new online store design experience will significantly expand our existing customization options. You’ll have more control over the layout and aesthetic of your store, and it’s simpler than ever to save and preview design changes before going live. Here’s a quick look at what's in the works:

• Easier customization at the page and store level. Any page can now be customized by using sections, just like how you currently do on the homepage. You can also save time by setting content that you want to appear on multiple pages with master pages.
• Portable content that moves with you. Your shop’s content will now follow you when you want to make changes to your store, whether it’s downloading a new version of your theme, or trying out a new one. No more need to duplicate your theme or move content over manually.
• A new workspace to update your store. Make minor tweaks or ship major changes with confidence in a new space to draft changes, which lets you edit and preview updates before publishing. Once you’re ready, you’ll know that your shop will go live exactly as it appears.

New online store design experience

This powerful editing experience will be released later this summer. Developers can access the new Sections API in developer preview. You can now preview our new online store design experience. Through this preview you will be able to:

• Install our sections-compatible Debut theme and test new sections on product pages (all page types will be supported in the near future).
• Add, remove, and configure sections on product pages through the new online store editor.
• Explore our new online store editor to customize pages and sections within the Shopify Admin.

New theme architecture

The sections architecture introduces a new architecture for rendering pages in themes and customizing pages. It coexists with the template architecture that predates it. Both can be implemented by a theme. An online store may use one or the other on a per-page basis.

Template architecture

• Pages render a theme template, which can optionally use template sections to bring customization options to the merchant in the theme editor.
• Data for the legacy homepage and static sections is stored inside the theme. Static sections can't be added or removed in the Shopify admin, and can't be edited per-page.
• Additional content can be added through the rich-text content of the resource, which can be edited per-page in the Shopify admin, but does not support sections.
• Multiple theme templates can be created in the theme and assigned to individual pages in the Shopify admin.
• The content of the homepage is stored inside of the theme's config/settings_data.json file.

Sections architecture

• Pages render their associated sections, one of which, the page section, acts as the main section of the page.
• The section data is stored within the page resource, and therefore reused across themes, with the theme only acting as a “renderer”.
• Additional sections can be added and removed per-page, or across multiple pages using master pages, in the Shopify admin.
• Master pages are store-level resources that enable pages of certain types to share sections. Page-specific “overrides” of master page configurations can be made in the Shopify admin.
• The content of the homepage is stored inside of a store-level resource, and therefore reused across themes.

Features of both architectures

• Both architectures run pages through theme layouts and output the page-specific content in the content_for_layout Liquid variable.
• Both architectures support theme frames, which allow content appearing at the top and bottom of pages to be modeled with sections. The configuration of those sections continues to be stored inside themes.