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Beacon changelog

Current version: 1.2.1. Every version of Beacon and Beacon Wholesale, newest first. To update, follow Installing Beacon.

1.2.1 (first release sold by Realmdrop Software)

Chat button and the add-to-cart bar: on product pages, Shopify Inbox's Chat button no longer covers the add-to-cart bar. On phones it sits above the pinned bar; on larger screens it moves up when the sticky bar slides in. The back-to-top button moves above it in both cases.

Beacon palette in the Wholesale style: choosing the Beacon palette (Theme settings → Colors) while using the Wholesale style, or in Beacon Wholesale, showed Ledger's greens instead of navy and orange. It now shows Beacon's colors. Ledger looks the same as before.

Split hero on wide screens: the two small product cards next to the hero lost their card style on screens 1200px and wider (the name ran into the price). They're cards again at every desktop width.

1.2.0 (includes everything in 1.1.0)

Two editions: Beacon and Beacon Wholesale, each its own download with its own license.

Footer credit: "Theme by Realmdrop Software" at the bottom of the footer, on by default. Turn it off in the footer section.

New style: Wholesale

  • A second theme style for wholesalers and trade suppliers, with its own Ledger palette (paper, kraft and deep green), squarer shapes, SKUs and stock on product cards, collections in list view, and a home page built around reordering: a quick order list, category shelves and a trade-account banner. Demo store: WardaZP Paper Supply.

Search engines

  • Fallback meta descriptions: collections, pages, policies and blogs with no description of their own get one ("Shop Arts & Crafts at Caravan." plus the store description from Preferences), translated in every language. The home page keeps the Preferences description.
  • Search results aren't indexed: search pages carry noindex, follow, so every query doesn't become a thin page in Google.
  • Return and shipping details for Google: product data now tells Google the item condition, the return window (Theme settings → Search engines, 30 days by default) and free shipping on products at or above the free-shipping threshold (Theme settings → Cart). Google can show them as "Free shipping" and "30-day returns" in results. On by default; set the return window to match your refund policy, or turn it off.
  • Breadcrumbs and store details: product and collection pages describe their breadcrumb to search engines; the home page describes the store (logo, contact, address, social profiles).
  • Product data once: product pages output Shopify's product data once instead of twice.

B2B (Shopify companies, catalogs and payment terms)

  • Location switcher: business buyers see "Buying for Harbor Street Café · Downtown" in the header (and the phone menu) and switch location or company in one click; prices, catalogs and payment terms follow. A link opens their orders, where "Buy again" reorders.
  • Quick order list: a product page block and a bulk order page (template "bulk-order") with every variant in a table — SKU, stock, price breaks and a quantity box — and one "Add to cart". Search by name or SKU, a category menu and "In stock only" load results in place, and quantities already entered stay in the total.
  • Quantity rules everywhere: minimums, maximums and increments show on product cards, in quick buy, in the quick order list and in the cart, and quantity buttons follow them.
  • Volume pricing: the price-break table opens for business buyers and highlights the tier the chosen quantity reaches.
  • Show prices to: everyone, logged-in customers or B2B customers only (Theme settings → Trade (B2B)); others see "Log in to see prices" instead of prices and add to cart.
  • Show to: product text and tabs, cart trust lines, promo banner, utility bar, countdown, trust bar and popup can show to everyone, retail shoppers only or B2B buyers only.
  • Trade account application: a page template (trade-account) whose form sends business details to your email; approve a business by creating its company in Customers → Companies.
  • Quote apps: app blocks on the cart page.

Product discovery

  • Grid or list view on collection and search pages, remembered for each shopper; list view shows SKUs and stock.
  • SKU and stock on product cards (Theme settings → Product cards).

1.1.0

Languages

  • Right-to-left languages. Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Urdu and other right-to-left stores get a fully mirrored layout: menus, drawers, carousels, slides, icons and the keyboard arrows in tabs all follow the reading direction. Prices, phone numbers and email fields stay readable.
  • Arabic and Simplified Chinese translations of all storefront text, plus the theme editor in Simplified Chinese. Arabic and Chinese text falls back to good system fonts when your chosen font doesn't include those letters.
  • French, German, Italian and Spanish translations of all storefront text and the theme editor.

Cart and checkout

  • Quick buy: "Choose options" on a product card opens a panel with the product's photos, options, purchase options and buttons, so shoppers add to cart without leaving the page. (Theme settings → Product cards → Quick buy, on by default.)
  • Sticky add to cart on desktops: a bar with the product and Add to cart appears once the buttons scroll out of view; phones keep the pinned buttons. (Product page → Buy buttons → Sticky add to cart, on by default.)
  • Sticky header: the header stays in reach, slides away while scrolling down and comes back on the way up. (Header → Sticky header, on by default.)
  • Pre-orders that can be bought: products set to keep selling when out of stock show "Pre-order" on the button, the stock line and in the cart, with a Pre-order badge on cards. Pre-order apps that use Shopify's purchase options (selling plans) show "Pre-order" and the deposit ("Pay $20 today and $80 later").

Marketing

  • Countdown: a section with a timer to a date and time ("The sale ends soon"), and a product page block ("Sale ends in", optionally only on products on sale). It hides itself, or shows a message, when the time is up.
  • Popup: a newsletter sign-up or button popup (footer group → Add section → Popup), with an optional image and a discount code revealed after signing up. You choose the delay and how many days before a shopper sees it again; it never shows on the cart or password pages.
  • Press: "As seen in" quotes with publication logos, or a row of logos only.
  • Back-in-stock requests: sold-out variants show "Notify me" with an email field. Requests reach your store's email like contact form messages. (Product page → Buy buttons → Back-in-stock form, on by default.)

Merchandising

  • Image zoom: click or tap a product photo to see it full screen at up to 3000px, then click or tap again to zoom in and drag to look around. (Product page → Image zoom, on by default.)
  • Size chart: choose a page in Variant picker → Size chart and a "Size chart" link appears by the size option, opening the chart in a window. Connect it to a product metafield for a chart per product.
  • Tabs for ingredients, nutrition and how to use: collapsible tabs can show an icon, and their text can come from a product metafield, so every product shows its own.
  • Color swatches on product cards: choosing a color shows its photo and links the card to it. (Theme settings → Product cards → Color swatches, on by default.)
  • Shop the look: a photo with numbered dots on the products in it, each opening a small card, with the products listed beside it. Use several for a lookbook.
  • Image gallery: photos in a grid, or a mosaic with the first one large, with captions and links.
  • Scroll animations: sections fade in (and rise) as shoppers scroll. (Theme settings → Interactions → Scroll animations; always off for shoppers who reduce motion.)

Product discovery

  • Infinite scroll on collection pages (Collection → Pagination → Infinite scroll) and search results (Search → Infinite scroll). The Load more button stays for keyboard users.

Fixes

  • Messages on the product page with apostrophes (for example "Couldn't add this to your cart") showed ' instead of the apostrophe.

1.0.0

First release of Beacon, a free theme by Realmdrop Software for shops with a lot of everything: big catalogs, many brands, small prices.

Shopping

  • Always-open header search with live suggestions (products, collections, pages, query suggestions) and full keyboard support; full-screen search with popular searches on phones.
  • Mega menu with columns that grow with your menu, a featured product per department and "Under $X" price shortcuts; phone menu drawer and category chips.
  • Collection and search pages with Search & Discovery filters (price ranges, swatches, images), sorting, live updates, and "Load more" or page numbers.
  • Product cards with sale, sold-out and pre-order states, quick add, and a second image on hover.
  • Product page built from blocks: gallery with video and 3D, variant pills and swatches (combined listings supported), subscriptions (selling plans), quantity rules and volume pricing, stock line, free-shipping meter, pickup availability, gift card recipient form, trust cards, collapsible tabs.
  • Quantity can never go above what's in stock — on the product page, in quick add, the cart drawer and the cart page.
  • Cart drawer or cart page with free-shipping progress, add-ons, order notes, discount codes and express checkout.

Sections Slideshow that runs itself all year (holiday, month or custom-date slides, priorities, an editor schedule list and preview date), split hero, trust bar, price tiles, product grid with tabs, shelves, recently viewed, featured product, promo banner, "Find us elsewhere" (marketplaces and social media), newsletter, Custom Liquid and app sections.

Pages Brands (logo grid + A–Z of every brand with a live finder), contact and help center, 404 with products, all collections, blog and article (share, comments), password page, gift card.

Styles Five color palettes — Beacon, Cinder, Coast, Linen and Flare — that recolor the whole store in one click (Theme settings → Colors → Color palette), all meeting WCAG AA contrast. Beacon's six color schemes stay fully editable, with an option to give the header menu bar its own scheme.

Quality Accessibility checked with axe on every page type (Lighthouse accessibility 97); keyboard and screen-reader support throughout; works with reduced motion; tested in Safari (desktop and iPhone), Chrome (desktop and Android) and Firefox; Edge, which uses Chrome's engine, to be checked before submission.