THEME DOCUMENTATION
Centre Court — setup guide
An equipment-first Shopify theme for tennis, padel and specialist sports stores. This guide covers configuration of the current release candidate.
Set up an unpublished copy
- Upload the theme ZIP in Online Store → Themes. Keep the theme unpublished while configuring it.
- In the theme editor, choose your logo, favicon, colors and typography. Select your navigation and footer menus. The theme does not create products, menus or pages.
- Connect your actual collections, products and images to each homepage section. Use short descriptive headings and check image crops on mobile.
- Create a contact page and assign the contact template. Confirm the store’s contact notification address and test delivery.
- Replace illustrative copy with accurate information about your products, services, shipping and returns. Demo imagery and specifications are not verified supplier data.
Navigation and court stories
Create up to three menu levels for the mega menu. Select collections for Shop by discipline, Equipment selection and Player pathways. Court worlds supports separate court stories with their own images, descriptions and links. These pathways are merchant curation, not an automated fitting service.
Connect Courtside journal to a real Shopify blog. Create pages with the guides and contact templates, then connect them to section and product links. Grip/string guidance is general: confirm actual recommendations with the manufacturer or a qualified stringer.
Equipment specifications
Create single-line text product metafields in Settings → Custom data. Supported keys include court.equipment_type, court.sport, court.player_level, court.play_style, court.weight, court.head_size, court.balance, court.string_pattern, court.surface, court.fit and court.material.
Enter real manufacturer values, units and measurement conditions, including whether racket weight and balance are strung or unstrung. Missing fields are not inferred from the product name.
Comparison
Customers can compare two to four products in one equipment category. Set consistent equipment-type values; product type is the fallback. Missing values remain explicit. Comparison shows product starting prices, not a selected-variant quote, and does not convert units. Selections are stored in the visitor’s browser; current details are refreshed when comparison opens. Comparison requires JavaScript.
Filters for players and equipment
Use Shopify Search & Discovery to enable availability, price and relevant product options or metafields. For a tennis/padel catalog, consider Sport, Player level, Playing style, Court surface, Grip size and Size. Metafield definitions alone do not enable filters: select the sources in Search & Discovery.
Collection and search results use Shopify filter counts, active chips, sort order and pagination. Configure 12–48 products per collection page. Collection shortcuts should point to real collections. Test combinations, empty results and browser Back with your own inventory.
Variants and media
Keep product options and variant media accurate. Unavailable combinations disable purchasing. Large-variant products load updated selection data from Shopify rather than assuming the first 250 variants are complete. On a failed selection request, use the native page link before purchasing.
Campaign and editorial images use responsive sizes. Optional autoplay video is muted and disabled by reduced-motion preferences or the motion setting. Test hosted video, external video and model assets separately. Configure genuine social profile links; blank fields do not create profiles.
Languages, accessibility and launch checks
Publish the languages and markets you need in Shopify, then enable the theme’s country and language selectors where available. The store must provide multiple choices before a selector can display them. Currency availability and checkout behavior depend on your Shopify payment and market configuration; the theme does not independently convert or charge currencies.
Translate both theme strings and your editable content. Check long translations, right-sized images, visible keyboard focus and text contrast after customization. Reduced-motion preferences should remain respected. Avoid negative-margin overrides that remove the spacing between sections.
Complete page titles and descriptions in Shopify and add meaningful image descriptions. Test populated home, collection and product pages: filters, sorting, unavailable variants, cart updates, checkout, forms and search. Test app blocks, media, gift cards, pickup and selling plans when your store uses them.
Use optimized photographs and limit unnecessary app scripts. Performance depends on store content, installed apps, devices and networks. Technical test scores do not guarantee search ranking or Shopify approval.
Update without losing your work
Duplicate the current theme before updating. Record code customizations and integrations, apply them to an unpublished copy, and recheck navigation, variants, cart, translations and forms before publishing.
Support
Include the theme name and version, store URL, reproduction steps and a redacted screenshot. Never send passwords, tokens, gift-card codes or customer records.