FAQ
The questions that come up most often. If something here doesn’t fix it, try Troubleshooting, then contact support.
Setup and licensing
Section titled “Setup and licensing”How do I install Signal?
Section titled “How do I install Signal?”Upload the ZIP under Shopify Admin → Online Store → Themes → Add theme → Upload zip file. Full walk-through in Installation.
Which Shopify plans does it work on?
Section titled “Which Shopify plans does it work on?”All of them — Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. Signal is an Online Store 2.0 theme, which every plan supports.
Why does my store look nothing like the demo after installing?
Section titled “Why does my store look nothing like the demo after installing?”Because the demo references collections, products, a blog and images that exist on the demo store and nowhere else. Three sections will be empty until you point them at your own content (Product mosaic, Product rail, Dispatch), and every demo image reference won’t resolve. That’s expected — work through Demo content.
Half the theme seems to be missing. Where are the lookbook, size guide and stockists pages?
Section titled “Half the theme seems to be missing. Where are the lookbook, size guide and stockists pages?”They’re page templates, and a template does nothing until a page uses it. Signal ships nine of them. Create the pages and assign the templates — see Pages and templates. This is the most commonly missed setup step.
Can I use the theme on more than one store?
Section titled “Can I use the theme on more than one store?”One license covers one store. Development and staging stores on the same license are fine; a second live store needs a second license.
How do I update to a new version?
Section titled “How do I update to a new version?”Shopify has no in-place update, so an update is a new theme upload. Duplicate your live theme as a rollback, upload the new ZIP as a separate unpublished theme, re-enter your settings, test, then publish. Steps in Installation.
Look and feel
Section titled “Look and feel”How do I change the colors?
Section titled “How do I change the colors?”Theme settings → Colors. Signal has seven colors and that’s the whole palette:
| Setting | Controls |
|---|---|
color_coal | The page background |
color_coal_deep | The drop banner, mega menu panel and sticky bar |
color_white | The inverted planes — hero type panel, newsletter, footer wordmark |
color_accent | Buttons, labels, hairlines, the ticker — the one that defines the store’s character |
color_tile | The flat background behind product images |
color_rule | Hairlines and dividers |
color_mute | Secondary and muted text |
There are no per-section color schemes in the Shopify sense. Sections instead choose between three planes — default (coal), white and deep — built from those seven colors.
Can I make the theme light instead of dark?
Section titled “Can I make the theme light instead of dark?”Partly. Set color_coal and color_coal_deep to light values and color_white to a dark one, and the planes invert. It works, but Signal’s type scale and hairline weights were drawn against a dark ground, so expect to spend time on contrast. If a light store is the goal from the start, that’s a fair amount of tuning.
How do I change the fonts?
Section titled “How do I change the fonts?”Theme settings → Typography. heading_font defaults to Anton, body_font to Inter, both from Shopify’s font library. Use heading_tracking to adjust heading letter spacing after a swap.
Pick a condensed, single-weight face for headings. The layouts size headings to fill their plate, so a face with delicate strokes at that size reads as a mistake rather than a choice.
Where does my logo go — and why is my shop name showing instead?
Section titled “Where does my logo go — and why is my shop name showing instead?”Two places accept a logo: Theme settings → Brand (used by the loading screen, and by the header when the header has no logo of its own) and the Header section’s own Logo setting.
If neither is set, the header prints a text wordmark instead — the Wordmark setting, falling back to your shop name. That’s deliberate: it’s how the demo is designed. Upload a logo if you’d rather have one.
How do I get those two-tone headlines?
Section titled “How do I get those two-tone headlines?”Wrap the phrase in bold inside the heading field:
Deadstock only. <strong>No reprints.</strong> No apologies.Bold text takes the accent color. It works in the headings that are rich-text fields — see the theme editor tour.
The page feels too tight / too loose. What do I change?
Section titled “The page feels too tight / too loose. What do I change?”Theme settings → Layout: page_margin (distance from the screen edge), gutter (gap between plates), section_gap (the vertical rhythm every section starts from) and max_page_width (Narrow / Wide / Full bleed). Then tune individual sections with their own Top spacing and Bottom spacing.
Can I turn the animation off?
Section titled “Can I turn the animation off?”Theme settings → Motion → Enable motion. Off disables reveals, the ticker movement and hover transitions. reveal_strength (Subtle / Standard / Bold) tunes it rather than killing it.
Visitors whose operating system asks for reduced motion get no motion regardless, and the loading screen never shows for them.
Should I keep the loading screen?
Section titled “Should I keep the loading screen?”It’s enabled in the shipped setup, once per page type, for 2200 ms. It makes a strong first impression and it costs every visitor that delay. If you keep it, consider Once per visit rather than once per page type; if you’re optimizing for speed scores, turn it off. Theme settings → Loading screen.
Products and the product page
Section titled “Products and the product page”How do I reorder the product page?
Section titled “How do I reorder the product page?”Open Products → Default product in the theme editor and drag the blocks in the left panel. Title, price, rating, description, variant picker, buy buttons, inventory, pickup, perks, trust badges, share, detail accordions and spec list are all blocks. Delete what you don’t want and add more. See Theme blocks.
Can different products have different layouts?
Section titled “Can different products have different layouts?”Yes. Create a second product template from the theme editor’s template dropdown, arrange its blocks differently, then assign it to individual products under Theme template in the product’s admin record.
Why doesn’t the run counter show a number?
Section titled “Why doesn’t the run counter show a number?”The Inventory block needs inventory tracking enabled on the variant. Set Run size (stock_run) on the block to the number you actually made, so the bar is scaled correctly — the default is 400.
Why aren’t color swatches showing?
Section titled “Why aren’t color swatches showing?”The option has to be named one of the values in Theme settings → Swatches → Swatch option names — color, colour, shade, tint by default. Values the built-in color dictionary doesn’t recognize need a line in Custom swatch colors: Clay:#b0653a, one per line.
Why isn’t the sale badge showing?
Section titled “Why isn’t the sale badge showing?”A variant only counts as on sale when its compare-at price is higher than its price. Set it per variant in Shopify admin.
Does the theme support video and 3D models?
Section titled “Does the theme support video and 3D models?”Yes. The product gallery handles images, Shopify-hosted video, external video (YouTube / Vimeo) and 3D models, with nothing to enable — add the media to the product and it renders.
Where do star ratings come from?
Section titled “Where do star ratings come from?”The Rating block reads the standard reviews.rating and reviews.rating_count metafields, which most review apps (Judge.me, Stamped, Loox, Yotpo) write automatically. Install one and ratings appear on the product page and on product cards. The block has an Anchor setting so the stars can jump to your review app’s section further down the page.
Does it support subscriptions?
Section titled “Does it support subscriptions?”Yes. Install a subscription app (Shopify Subscriptions, Recharge, Bold) to create the selling plans; Signal renders them. It shows a One time / Subscribe choice first, then the frequency underneath — as pills while there are few, or a dropdown grouped by plan group once there are many. The saving badge is calculated from the plan’s actual allocation price rather than read out of the plan name, so it’s right for percentage, fixed-amount and fixed-price plans alike.
A product marked as requiring a selling plan gets no “one time” option, because choosing it would fail at add-to-cart.
What is the “Peek” button on product cards?
Section titled “What is the “Peek” button on product cards?”Quick view. It opens the product in a modal so a shopper can pick a variant and add to bag without leaving the grid. Theme settings → Quick view & wishlist → Enable quick view turns it off.
Cart and checkout
Section titled “Cart and checkout”Can I use a cart page instead of the drawer?
Section titled “Can I use a cart page instead of the drawer?”The drawer is the theme’s cart. The /cart page exists and works — the drawer’s “View bag” button links to it, and it is the fallback when scripting has not loaded — but there is no setting to make the bag icon go to the page instead.
How do I set up the free-shipping progress bar?
Section titled “How do I set up the free-shipping progress bar?”Theme settings → Cart → Free shipping threshold, as a number in your store’s currency. The cart drawer then shows progress towards it. Leave it empty to hide the bar entirely. The wording comes from the Cart drawer section’s Free shipping — unlocked and from free shipping settings.
How does gift wrapping work?
Section titled “How does gift wrapping work?”Theme settings → Cart → Gift wrap product. Pick a real product you’ve created for the purpose. Ticking the box in the cart adds that product’s line; unticking removes it. Because it’s a real product it’s priced, taxed, counted in inventory and fulfilled like anything else — rather than a note that never reaches whoever packs the box. Leave the setting empty to hide the option.
The gift message is separate (gift_message_enabled) and is saved as a cart attribute, so it appears on the order in admin.
Are Shop Pay, PayPal and Apple Pay supported?
Section titled “Are Shop Pay, PayPal and Apple Pay supported?”Yes, on the product page via the Buy buttons block’s Show dynamic checkout buttons setting. Which buttons appear is decided by Shopify based on your payment settings and the shopper’s device, not by the theme.
Does it support local pickup?
Section titled “Does it support local pickup?”Yes — add the Pickup availability block to the product page. It populates from the locations you’ve set up under Settings → Shipping and delivery → Local pickup, and updates when the shopper changes variant.
Features
Section titled “Features”How does the wishlist work? Do customers need an account?
Section titled “How does the wishlist work? Do customers need an account?”No account needed. Saved items are stored in the visitor’s own browser, which is why it works for guests. The trade-off is that a wishlist doesn’t follow someone to another device or survive clearing their browser data — the theme says so in the empty state (“Saved on this device — no account needed”).
The heart in the header opens the wishlist drawer. For the full-page view, create a page with the wishlist template and set it as Wishlist page in theme settings.
How many products can be compared?
Section titled “How many products can be compared?”Four. Adding a fifth shows a “tray is full” message. Theme settings → Quick view & wishlist → Enable product comparison turns the feature off. The tray compares price, availability, type and vendor.
How do I set up the fit finder?
Section titled “How do I set up the fit finder?”Add Question blocks and Result blocks to the Fit finder section (it’s on the size guide template by default). Each question has a key and a list of options; each result has a matching key and a product. Mark one result as the fallback so there’s always an answer. Keep it to two or three questions — a long quiz gets abandoned.
How do I make the search suggestions useful?
Section titled “How do I make the search suggestions useful?”Theme settings → Layout → Popular searches takes a comma-separated list, shown as clickable chips before the shopper types anything. Use terms that actually return results. Alongside them the overlay shows that shopper’s own recent searches, stored in their browser and clearable by them.
What does the countdown do when it runs out?
Section titled “What does the countdown do when it runs out?”It swaps to the Done text message (“The drop is live.” in the demo). It doesn’t hide itself, so swap or hide the section once a drop has landed.
How do I turn off the promo popup?
Section titled “How do I turn off the promo popup?”Promo popup in the theme editor’s section list — it’s there on every page because it’s rendered site-wide. Untick Enabled. It’s on in the shipped setup with 10%-off copy, so turn it off or rewrite it before launch.
A shopper dismissed the popup / age gate and now I can’t see it to test it
Section titled “A shopper dismissed the popup / age gate and now I can’t see it to test it”Both remember a dismissal in the visitor’s browser. Each has a Version setting — change it and everyone sees the thing again, which is also how you re-run a campaign. For your own testing, a private window is quicker.
Where does the newsletter signup go?
Section titled “Where does the newsletter signup go?”It creates a Shopify customer with the newsletter tag (the promo popup uses popup). Build your welcome automation on that tag in Shopify Email or your ESP.
How does back-in-stock notification work?
Section titled “How does back-in-stock notification work?”The Back in stock block shows a form on unavailable variants. Submitting creates a customer tagged back-in-stock, with the product and variant recorded in the customer note. Pair it with Shopify Flow to send the email automatically when stock returns — the theme captures the interest; it doesn’t send the mail.
Content and merchandising
Section titled “Content and merchandising”How many sections can one page have?
Section titled “How many sections can one page have?”Shopify’s limit is 25 per template. Signal’s homepage ships with 20, which is a demo, not a recommendation — most stores look better at eight to twelve.
Can I use Signal if I don’t sell in drops?
Section titled “Can I use Signal if I don’t sell in drops?”Yes, though you’d be leaving the most distinctive parts unused. Remove the countdown, the drop banner and the run counter, and rewrite the “no restock” perk, and you have a strong high-contrast apparel theme. The homepage mosaic and collection plates still assume a curated catalog rather than a thousand SKUs.
Where do collection and search filters come from?
Section titled “Where do collection and search filters come from?”Shopify’s storefront filtering, which you configure in the free Shopify Search & Discovery app. With no filters set up, the collection page’s Filter button has nothing to show — turn off Enable filtering on the section until you’ve set them up. The same app is where you set the complementary products that the product page’s “Complete the look” section uses.
Can I change how collection pagination works?
Section titled “Can I change how collection pagination works?”Yes — the collection section’s Pagination style offers numbered pages, a load-more button (the default) or infinite scroll.
How do I remove “Powered by Shopify”?
Section titled “How do I remove “Powered by Shopify”?”Settings → Languages → Manage languages → Edit default theme content, search for “Powered by Shopify” and clear the value.
Compatibility and performance
Section titled “Compatibility and performance”Does Signal work with apps?
Section titled “Does Signal work with apps?”App blocks are supported on the product page, the cart, articles and the footer, and there’s a dedicated Apps section you can add to any template. Review apps that write the standard reviews metafields work with no configuration.
Page-builder apps (PageFly, Shogun, GemPages) generally coexist by rendering their own templates, but they won’t inherit Signal’s design system — a builder-made page will look like a different store unless you’re careful.
Is it multi-language?
Section titled “Is it multi-language?”Yes. All storefront text comes from locales/en.default.json, so Shopify’s translation system and translation apps work normally. Add further locale files under locales/ or use Translate & Adapt. The footer’s language selector appears once you’ve published more than one language.
Is it multi-currency?
Section titled “Is it multi-currency?”Yes. Shopify Markets handles conversion, and the footer country selector appears once you’ve set up more than one market.
Is it fast?
Section titled “Is it fast?”Signal is built to be, and the choices are deliberate:
- CSS is preloaded as two files (
critical.css,signal.css), with each section carrying its own scoped styles rather than a monolith. - There is no framework and no build step, so modules import each other by name and load in parallel.
- Lists and the cart re-render by updating what is on screen in place rather than rebuilding it — which means focus, text selection, caret position, scroll offset and in-flight transitions all survive an update.
- Cart updates go through Shopify’s Standard Storefront Actions, configured to refresh the drawer in place rather than fall back to a full page reload.
- Speculation Rules prefetch links on hover, excluding cart, checkout and account. The browser honours Save-Data and low-memory conditions itself.
- Fonts are preloaded; images below the fold are lazy-loaded and served at responsive widths.
The two settings that cost you the most are the loading screen and large uncompressed hero images.
What browsers does it support?
Section titled “What browsers does it support?”Current evergreen browsers. The interactive layer uses ES modules and custom elements, so a browser without them still gets served readable content and working links — it just doesn’t get the drawers, the overlay search or the quick view.