In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page welcome Ruben Bristian, co-founder of Krown Themes, to discuss the intricacies of Shopify theme development. 

Ruben shares his journey from WordPress to Shopify, the challenges of adapting to Liquid, and the importance of understanding merchant needs. 

The conversation delves into the theme development process, including design collaboration, quality assurance, and the impact of new Shopify features. 

Ruben emphasizes the balance between creating user-friendly themes for merchants while also considering the developer experience. 

The episode concludes with insights on the evolving landscape of Shopify themes and the importance of accessibility and market trends in development.

*Takeaways*

- The importance of understanding merchant needs in theme development.
- Accessibility is a continuous improvement area in theme design.
- Quality assurance involves feedback from support teams and demo stores.
- The development process is iterative and involves collaboration with designers.
- Shopify themes must balance simplicity and functionality for merchants.
- New features in Shopify can impact existing themes significantly.
- Developers should consider the user experience when building themes.
- Market trends influence the features included in themes.
- Ruben's team focuses on creating unique solutions for niche markets.

*Timestamps*

00:00 Ruben Bristian's Journey to Shopify Development
09:18 The Evolution of Shopify Themes
19:11 Theme Development Process and Challenges
29:16 Focus on Merchant Needs and Accessibility
32:34 Adapting to Shopify Updates
35:56 Feature Selection and Merchant Needs
39:13 Building Unique Features and Market Gaps
42:06 Submission Process to Shopify
44:29 Development Tools and Frameworks
49:17 Collaboration and Design Process
57:35 Personal Updates and Picks of the Week
59:15 Shopify's Theme Submission Process and Naming Challenges

*Find Ruben Online*
- Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubenbristian/
- Website - https://www.krownthemes.com/
- Shopify listings - https://themes.shopify.com/designers/krownthemes

*Dev Changelog*
- Flow: Template extensions no longer block deploys - https://shopify.dev/changelog/flow-template-extensions-no-longer-block-deploys
- Liquid arrays now support the find, find_index, has, and reject filters - https://shopify.dev/changelog/liquid-arrays-now-support-the-find-findindex-has-and-reject-filters
- No-op for unchanged metafields and metaobjects - https://shopify.dev/changelog/no-op-for-unchanged-metafields-and-metaobjects
- Reserved prefix protection for metafields and metaobjects - https://shopify.dev/changelog/reserved-prefix-protection-for-metafields-and-metaobjects

*Picks of the Week*
- Ruben - Newborn! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant
- Karl - Severance on Apple TV - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severance_(TV_series)
- Taylor - Person of Interest - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series)

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