Alcove theme documentation

Alcove theme documentation · Version 1.0.0 · By Oncreation

Alcove is a Shopify theme built for beauty, skincare and fashion brands, with full support for Arabic and other right-to-left languages. This guide covers every setting in the theme editor. If you can't find an answer here, contact support.

Getting started
Styles (presets)
Theme settings
Header, announcement bar and footer
Home page sections
Blocks
Product page
Collection and search pages
Cart
Blog, contact and other pages
Arabic and right-to-left languages
Shopify features and apps
Updating the theme
FAQ
Support

1. Getting started

Install Alcove

In the Shopify Theme Store, open Alcove and click Try theme or Buy theme.
Choose a style: Alcove or Saffron. You can change colors and fonts later.
The theme is added to Online Store > Themes in your admin. Click Customize to open the theme editor.
When you're ready, click Publish. Your old theme stays in your theme library, so you can switch back at any time.

Before you customize

Create your menus in Online Store > Navigation. The header uses the main-menu menu and the footer uses the footer menu by default.
Add your products and collections. Many sections pick a product or collection, and show placeholder images until you do.
Demo images aren't installed with the theme. Upload your own images in each section.

Working in the theme editor

Use the page selector at the top of the editor to switch between the home page, product pages, collection pages and others. Click Add section to add a section, and drag sections in the sidebar to reorder them. Click the eye icon to hide a section without deleting it.

2. Styles (presets)

Style	Best for	Look
Alcove	Skincare, beauty and wellness	Warm cream and terracotta colors, Cormorant headings, Instrument Sans body text, arch-shaped images
Saffron	Fashion and modest wear	Soft sage and stone colors, Instrument Serif headings, Jost body text, rounded images, a video section on the home page

To switch styles after installing, add the theme again from the Theme Store and choose the other style. Your products and content stay the same. Section content and theme settings belong to each copy of the theme.

3. Theme settings

Open the theme editor and click the gear icon (Theme settings).

Logo

Logo: upload your logo. Landscape and portrait logos both work. If you leave it empty, your store name is shown.
Logo width on large screens: sets the logo width. On small screens the logo is shown at 75% of this width.
Favicon: the small icon in browser tabs. 32 x 32px .png recommended.

Colors

Alcove uses color schemes. Each scheme is a set of colors you can apply to any section. Change a scheme once and every section that uses it updates.

Each scheme has these colors:

Background and Background gradient. The gradient replaces the solid background color where possible.
Text
Button background and Button label
Card background
Border
Sale price text

Page color scheme sets the scheme for the page background and pages without their own color setting.

Tip: keep strong contrast between text and background, at least 4.5:1, so your store stays easy to read.

Typography

Latin, Cyrillic and Greek text

Heading font and Body font: choose from the Shopify font library. Bold and italic versions load automatically.
Heading size and Body text size: scale text up or down.
Heading letter spacing: shown in thousandths of an em. Ignored for right-to-left languages because Arabic and Hebrew letters connect.
Heading capitalization: As typed or Uppercase.

Right-to-left languages: see Arabic and right-to-left languages.

Layout

Page width: the maximum width of page content on large screens.
Media shape: Arch or Rounded. Arch frames product cards, collection cards and featured images.
Corner radius: rounding for cards, inputs and images.
Button corner radius: rounding for buttons.

Product cards

These settings apply to product cards everywhere: collection pages, search results, featured collections and related products.

Image ratio: Portrait, Square or Tall.
Show second image on hover
Show vendor
Show color swatches: shows swatches for color options. Set up swatches in your product options or category metafields.
Show quick add button: shown for products with a single variant.

Cart

Cart type: Drawer opens a side panel when a product is added. Page sends customers to the cart page.
Show order notes: lets customers add a note to their order.
Empty cart collection: shown in the drawer when the cart is empty.

Social media

Under Accounts, enter the full link to each profile, for example https://instagram.com/yourstore. Icons appear wherever you add a Social media block, usually in the footer. Supported: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X (Twitter), Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube and WhatsApp. For WhatsApp, use a https://wa.me/ link with your number in international format.

Search

Show search suggestions: shows products, collections, pages and articles as customers type.

4. Header, announcement bar and footer

Announcement bar

Add one Announcement block per message, each with Text and an optional Link.
Change messages every: how long each message shows when there is more than one.
Show country/region selector and Show language selector: shown on large screens. Add countries in Settings > Markets and languages in Settings > Languages.
Show two languages as a toggle: used when your store sells in exactly two languages, such as English and Arabic.

Header

Main menu: the menu shown in the header and the mobile menu.
Main menu dropdown: Dropdown or Mega menu. Mega menu is used when a menu item has three levels. To create levels, drag menu items under each other in Online Store > Navigation.
Logo position on large screens: Middle center or Middle start. Start means left for left-to-right languages and right for right-to-left languages.
Make header sticky: keeps the header at the top of the screen while scrolling.
Show language toggle in header: lets bilingual shoppers switch languages from every page.

When customer accounts are turned on, an account button appears in the header automatically.

Footer

Add blocks to build your footer:

Menu: a Heading and a Footer menu.
Text: a Heading and Text.
Email signup: subscribers are added to your customer list with email marketing accepted.
Social media: shows your social media icons. Turn on Show Follow on Shop button to let customers follow your store in the Shop app.

Footer section settings: Show country/region selector, Show language selector and Show payment icons. Payment icons match the payment methods turned on in your store.

5. Home page sections

Every section has a Color scheme setting.

Section	What it does	Main settings
Hero	A large opening banner with text and buttons	Layout (Arch window or Full-width image), Image, Second image (shown overlapping the main image in the arch window layout), Image position on large screens, Flip main image for right-to-left languages, Image overlay opacity (used in the full-width layout to keep text readable). Add Heading, Text and Buttons blocks.
Collection list	Shows chosen collections as cards	Heading, Collections per row on large screens, Layout on small screens (Grid or Carousel). Each Collection block has a Collection and an optional Image, which uses the collection image when empty.
Featured collection	Shows products from one collection	Caption, Heading, Heading alignment, Collection, Maximum products to show, Products per row on large screens, Layout (Grid or Carousel), Show View all link
Featured product	Lets customers buy one product from the home page	Product. Blocks: Text, Title, Price, Variant picker, Buy buttons, Description, Custom Liquid and app blocks.
Image with text	An image next to text and buttons	Image, Image ratio, Image position on large screens, Flip image for right-to-left languages
Multicolumn	Columns with an icon or image, heading, text and link	Heading, Columns on large screens, Column alignment. Each Column has Icon, Image (replaces the icon), Heading, Text, Link label and Link.
Testimonials	Customer quotes	Heading, Columns on large screens. Each Testimonial has Quote, Author and an optional Product.
Collapsible content	Questions and answers that open and close	Heading. Each Question block has Question and Answer.
Video	An uploaded video or a YouTube or Vimeo video	Heading, Video, YouTube or Vimeo URL (used when no video is uploaded), Cover image, Video alt text (describe the video for customers using screen readers)
Rich text	Free-form text and buttons	Content position. Add Heading, Text, Buttons, Image and Group blocks.
Email signup	A newsletter form	Heading, Text, Button label. Subscribers are added to your customer list with email marketing accepted.
Blog posts	Latest articles from a blog	Heading, Blog, Number of posts
Custom Liquid	Your own code or app snippets	Liquid code

6. Blocks

The Hero, Image with text and Rich text sections are built from these blocks. You can add, remove, reorder and nest them, and app blocks can be added too.

Heading: Heading, Size (Extra large, Large, Medium, Small), Heading level (changes how search engines and screen readers read the heading, not its look), Alignment.
Text and Caption: Text, Style (Body, Large, Subdued, Small caption), Alignment.
Buttons: First button label, First button link, Second button label, Second button link and Alignment. Leave the label blank to hide a button.
Image: Image, Aspect ratio, Width, Use arch shape (follows the media shape in theme settings).
Group: holds other blocks. Color scheme, Space between blocks, Padding.
Spacer: Height.
Custom Liquid: Liquid code.

Alignment options Start and End follow the reading direction of each language, so they flip automatically in Arabic.

7. Product page

In the theme editor, choose Products > Default product. The Product information section has these settings: Gallery layout on large screens (Collage or Stacked) and Media position on large screens (Start or End).

Blocks you can add and reorder:

Text: Text and Text style (Body, Subdued, Caption).
Title, Price, SKU, Description, Share.
Variant picker: Style (Buttons or Dropdown). Options with swatches always show as swatches.
Buy buttons: Show quantity selector, Show dynamic checkout buttons (customers see their preferred payment method, like PayPal or Apple Pay), Show recipient form for gift cards (lets customers send gift cards on a scheduled date with a personal message). Pickup availability and Shop Pay Installments appear here automatically when turned on in your store.
Inventory status: Low inventory threshold. Shows the real quantity left when stock is at or below this number. Requires inventory tracking.
Collapsible row: Heading, Row content, Row content from page, Open by default. Use it for ingredients, sizing or shipping details.
Icons with text: up to three icons, each with an icon and text.
Complementary products: Heading and Maximum products to show. To select complementary products, add the Search and Discovery app.
Custom Liquid and app blocks.

Below it, the Related products section has Heading, Maximum products to show and Products per row on large screens. Recommendations update over time based on order and product information.

Product media: Alcove supports images, uploaded videos, YouTube and Vimeo videos and 3D models. When a customer selects a variant that has its own image, that image moves to the front of the gallery.

Alternate templates: to give some products a different layout, open the template selector in the theme editor, click Create template, then assign it to products in the product admin page.

8. Collection and search pages

The Product grid section on collection pages has:

Show collection image and Show collection description
Products per page, Products per row on large screens, Products per row on small screens (1 column or 2 columns)
Enable filtering: shows filters for availability, price, product type, vendor and variant options. Customize filters with the Search and Discovery app.
Enable sorting

The Search results section has Enable filtering. Results are grouped into products, articles and pages.

The Collections list page section (the page that lists all collections) has Heading and Collections per row on large screens. A collection without an image uses its first product's image.

9. Cart

Choose between a cart drawer and a cart page in Theme settings > Cart > Cart type. Both show each item's image, options, price, line total, discounts and quantity, plus the estimated total and tax information. Customers can change quantities, remove items and add an order note. Accelerated checkout buttons, such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay, appear when they're turned on in your payment settings.

10. Blog, contact and other pages

Blog posts page: Posts per page and Show tag filter.
Blog post: Show author. Comments appear when they're turned on for the blog in Online Store > Blog posts > Manage blogs.
Contact form: create a page in Online Store > Pages and choose the contact template. Messages are sent to your store email.
Page not found and Password pages: each has a Color scheme. The password page shows your logo and the message you set in Online Store > Preferences.
Gift card page: customers see their gift card balance, code and QR code, and can add it to Apple Wallet.

11. Arabic and right-to-left languages

Alcove switches to right-to-left automatically when a customer views your store in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu or another right-to-left language. To set it up:

Add the language in Settings > Languages and publish it.
Translate your content with the Translate & Adapt app. Alcove includes Arabic translations for all theme text.
In Theme settings > Typography > Right-to-left languages, choose a Heading font and Body font that support your script. Amiri and Almarai are the defaults.
Choose a Layout direction:
- Mirror the full layout: recommended for native readers.
- Keep layout, right-align text only: can suit stores where most visitors browse in a left-to-right language.
Optional: turn on Show language toggle in header so shoppers can switch languages from every page.

Images that face a direction, such as a model looking toward the text, can be mirrored in RTL with Flip main image for right-to-left languages (Hero) and Flip image for right-to-left languages (Image with text). Don't flip images that contain text or logos.

12. Shopify features and apps

Filters and recommendations: install the free Search and Discovery app to customize filters, related products and complementary products.
Subscriptions: when a subscription app adds selling plans to a product, purchase options appear in the Buy buttons block and in the cart.
Local pickup: turn on pickup in Settings > Shipping and delivery. Availability appears under the Buy buttons block.
Shop Pay Installments: the installments message shows on the product page when it's turned on in your payment settings.
Unit prices: set them on the product variant. They show on product cards, product pages and in the cart.
Color swatches: use Shopify's category metafields or option swatches to add colors or images to variant options.
App blocks: apps that support theme app extensions can be added as blocks in the Product information and Featured product sections, or as sections anywhere.

13. Updating the theme

When a new version of Alcove is released, Shopify shows an update notice in Online Store > Themes. Click Update to add a new copy of the theme with your settings and content. Check it in the theme editor, then publish it. Code changes you made yourself aren't carried over, so note them before updating.

Release notes

1.0.0: first release.

14. FAQ

Why does my store show gray placeholder images?
Sections show placeholders until you choose an image, product or collection. Open the section in the theme editor and add your own.

Why don't I see the mega menu?
A mega menu needs three menu levels. In Online Store > Navigation, drag items under each other to create sub-levels, then set Main menu dropdown to Mega menu.

Why don't filters show on my collection page?
Turn on Enable filtering in the Product grid section, and add filters in the Search and Discovery app.

Why doesn't the complementary products block show anything?
Choose complementary products for each product in the Search and Discovery app. The block stays hidden until there are products to show.

How do I show my store in Arabic?
Follow the steps in Arabic and right-to-left languages. The layout switches direction automatically.

The quick add button doesn't appear on some products.
Quick add is shown only for products with a single variant. Products with options, such as sizes, link to the product page.

How do I change the logo size?
Go to Theme settings > Logo and adjust Logo width on large screens.

How do I add a size chart or ingredients list?
Add a Collapsible row block to the product page. Use Row content from page to show the same page on every product.

Can I add custom code?
Yes. Use the Custom Liquid section or block. Custom code isn't covered by theme support.

Will my settings be lost when I update?
No. Updating copies your settings and content to the new version. Code edits aren't copied.

Can I use Alcove on more than one store?
Each purchase covers one store. To use Alcove on another store, buy it again from that store.

15. Support

We reply to all requests within 2 business days. Before contacting us, please check this guide and the FAQ.

Contact Alcove support

Support covers theme settings, bugs and how features work. It doesn't cover custom code, third-party apps or design changes beyond the theme settings.