First of our Shopify themes reviews series and we are going to start with the free themes that are available in the Shopify theme store.
Instead of writing a separate review on each of them we are going to combine them all in here so that if you are starting out it will give you a good idea of what features they have.
The free themes consist of
- Narrative
- Debut
- Jumpstart
- Venture
- Boundless
- Simple
- Brooklyn
- Pop
- Supply
- Minimal
Narrative
Designed for brand and product storytelling
One thing that makes this theme stand out over any other free or premium theme is its slideshow which changes as you select the text at the bottom. It also has nice little animation effects on each section as you scroll down which brings it to life more. The sections included for the homepage are Testimonials, video, map, newsletter, gallery and an announcement bar.
The featured slider section on the homepage is a nice feature as it lets you show the main image on one side which stays still while the over sides content moves from one slide to another.
The collection pages let you show the collections as a grid or a collage view which is also an option on the blogs page
the collection list lets you sort them in a variety of different ways like a-z or new to old etc.
The product pages a pretty basic but do have a layout with the product image above the description and add to cart.
Debut
Designed to beautifully showcase your brand and products
Jumpstart
Designed for your crowdfunding campaign
Shopify market this theme for anyone starting a crowdfunding campaign and one feature that helps this is the campaign tracker where you can show people how much you have raised so far which can show as a bar chart or pie chart. It lets you show the funded percentage, funded amount and the number of backers.
The homepage also has a FAQ section which you won't find on any other theme
there is also a video and logo sections along with the usual ones found
Venture
Ideal for stores with a large number of products
So this theme comes with three styles to choose from Snowboards, outdoors and boxing.
The first thing that you notice about this theme is the static homepage slideshow which cant be moved or hidden.
It has a multiple link blocks section which lets you add up to four boxes across the screen which is a nice feature.
It also has a map section which has a nice address box so if you have a real store location it is a great feature to use.
a search section, rich text, HTML, videos and plenty of other sections can be added to the homepage too so lots to play with here.
Boundless
A minimalist theme that puts your photography front and center
The theme only comes with a sidebar menu but does have an action bar to add a menu but does have limited support for a dropdown menu.
The slideshow and action bar is static sections and can not be moved around or hidden unlike with some other rhemes
It then comes with a few sections to add which include a map, video and custom HTML sections which some might find useful.
If you have product images of the same size and look then the homepage featured collection section can look great and again in the collection pages but this block effect might not look great with images of different size etc.
The product page s use larges images at the top and below to showcase your products but this does push the add to cart and product descriptions below the fold
Simple
A clean and minimal theme, perfect for showcasing products
The first thing you notice about this theme is the static sidebar menu which doesn't get hidden behind a hamburger menu icon
This will give you some white space under the menu so if you have a long homepage then you will notice this more.
The theme comes with the usual sections but also has a featured banner image, map, custom HTML and video sections.
The product pages look a bit squashed with the menu on the theme but it has an option to have the product description below the images or to the right.
Brooklyn
Tailor-made for modern apparel stores
The theme lets you have a normal top menu but if it is too large it automatically gets made into a sidebar menu with a hamburger dropdown.
You can adjust the search function to a modal, page or off completely
The nice feature about this theme is the way you can show collection products in a collage effect a grid view.
The theme also comes with a video, map and custom HTML sections for the homepage.
The product pages let you add recommend products or have it switched off.
Pop
A clean and minimal theme, perfect for showcasing products
This is another theme that has only a static sideman but it does let you control the height of the mobile menus header. The sidebar also stays static and only the main page scrolls down so that it is easily accessible and has no white space under the menu.
The sections available are all the standard ones that you will find on most of the free themes.
Supply
Easily showcase and filter large inventories
The supple theme comes with a great looking header. with a nice search bar visible
The theme has been built for large catalogues but there is nothing to make it that obvious way it is different from the other free themes until you get to the collection pages which you will see the extra filters available like the grid view or list view. it also lets you add the filters in the sidebar with tags
The product pages let you show remaining stock or incoming stock. You can also adjust the size of the variant picker which also adjusts the add to cart button.
Minimal
A simple, clean design that keeps the focus on your products
The header to this theme has a few settings that you can adjust like turning off the search bar, moving logo around a bit.
It has the usual theme sections for the homepage but does have a gallery section which isn't available on most other free themes
The footer looks nice and tidy like the header.
The product page lets you have the thumbnail image between the main image and the product description
Roundup
As you can see the free themes are free for a reason and all come with limited features that you can adjust compared to the paid premium these but they are great to start with and learn how Shopify works before investing your money into a premium theme.
But if you are serious about running a Shopify store then it is highly reb=commednd to invest in one of the premium themes from the Shopify theme store.
We do not recommend using a third party theme as we have seen so many that can be full of bugs and some have major issues, there are some that are fine thou but it's is better to be safe than sorry. The theme that is in the Shopify theme store has to go through lots of testing before they are allowed to be sold via there.
