elile represents a HTML-first, JavaScript-only-as-needed approach to theme development. It's Shopify's first source available theme with performance, flexibility, and Online Store 2.0 features built-in and acts as a reference for building Shopify themes.
- Web-native in its purest form: Themes run on the evergreen web. We leverage the latest web browsers to their fullest, while maintaining support for the older ones through progressive enhancement—not polyfills.
- Lean, fast, and reliable: Functionality and design defaults to “no” until it meets this requirement. Code ships on quality. Themes must be built with purpose. They shouldn’t support each and every feature in Shopify.
- JavaScript not required, fails gracefully: We extract every bit of speed and functionality out of HTTP, semantic HTML, and CSS before writing our first line of JavaScript. JavaScript can only be used to progressively enhance features.
- Server-rendered: HTML must be rendered by Shopify servers using Liquid. Business logic and platform primitives such as translations and money formatting don’t belong on the client. Async and on-demand rendering of parts of the page is OK, but we do it sparingly as a progressive enhancement.
- Functional, not pixel-perfect: The Web doesn’t require each page to be rendered pixel-perfect by each browser engine. Using semantic markup, progressive enhancement, and clever design, we ensure that themes remain functional regardless of the browser.
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