Shopify DIY: Horizon v2 is Out + Q&A

Author

Ed Codes
July 10, 2025

Hello from rainy Taiwan!

I’m getting lots of replies recently, so I’ll try adding a Q&A section to answer everything in one go, plus some other news and tips.

Let’s go!

✨ Horizon Version 2.0 is out already!

Just a month after Horizon was released, we already have a new major version. There were also 5 smaller versions (up to 1.0.5) being released each week on average.

You can see the Shopify devs are hard at work, fixing bugs and making performance improvements at a very fast pace.

You can check the changelog for each version on the theme store.

A long-awaited feature, to say the least.

In the past, if you needed a second version of the same menu, you would need to recreate it manually from scratch. Some apps could also do it, but often had issues.

But now, finally, we can simply hit duplicate.

This, along with the new ability to copy & paste sections (right click), are huge time savers that we needed back in like… 2016, but better late than never!

Now, if menus could also be exported and imported to another store, that would be great!

👀 Watch: Horizon Deep Dive

This is a must-watch for developers and beginner coders working on Horizon.

Chris the Freelancer takes us through some of the new coding techniques being used by Horizon, and highlights how they differ from Dawn.

It’s worth paying attention to this stuff, because the way Shopify builds their themes is very intentional - they are giving us many examples of best practices for coding on Shopify.

Adopting or at least understanding these new techniques will ensure that you are writing future-proof and performant code.

(Beginners can probably skip to 11:13)

Ad: Sell More with BOGOS

One thing that frustrates me about Shopify is that some basic ecomm features like upsells, bundles, and other promos aren’t built in.

Back when I was selling on Gumroad, the built-in upsells worked really well - almost everyone who bought my sections also added my ebook. This boosted my Average Order Value (AOV), meaning more revenue from the same number of customers.

I made about 30% more per order thanks to upsells.

On Shopify, you need an app for that - and BOGOS is the one I recommend. It’s the most popular upsell and free gift app on the platform, with over 2,000 reviews.

You can use it to create promos and experiment with different ways of increasing AOV. For example:

  • Gifts (with conditions): Spend $100 for a free gift (auto-added to cart)

  • Bundles: Offer a bundle with a % discount, or let customers mix and match to create their own bundle.

  • Upsells: Add “frequently bought together” offers (like Amazon) or show a discount code on the thank you page for their next order.

  • Volume discounts: Buy 2 for 10% off, 3 for 20% off etc.

These are all super easy ways to increase how much customers spend, while also making them feel like they got a great deal.

I like BOGOS because it supports dynamic targeting logic, like showing offers only to repeat buyers, customers in specific locations, or based on cart value or when a specific URL was clicked. And it checks all the boxes of a great Shopify app:

  • ✅ “Built for Shopify” badge, meaning it meets Shopify’s highest performance (speed) requirements. Very important since it’s a customer-facing app.

  • 💬 Live chat support available 24/5, that’s hands-on and ready to help with setup.

  • ⭐ Great reviews. When people thank the support staff by name, it’s always a green flag for me.

The best part is that BOGOS pays for itself. The $30/month plan is usually covered by just one or two successful upsells.

🙋Q&A: Answering your questions about Horizon

I got a lot of replies to my last couple of posts about Horizon. I’ll answer them here so everyone else can see.

Horizon doesn’t support blogs?

“I read somewhere that it doesn't support blogs or something like that. Is that true and does that mean you can't display them at the moment?”

Horizon currently lacks a “featured blog posts” block. So you can’t feature blog posts on the homepage or on other templates yet. However, the blog templates for your blog listing page and article pages exist and are totally normal. Your blog won’t disappear.

“I bought your breadcrumb code which is so good. Would that transfer over to Horizon?”

You won't be able to use that same code on Horizon. But I will build a version for Horizon. You will soon find a “Horizon blocks” collection on my store. Breadcrumbs is the first one that I will do.

JSON-LD app and structured data for Horizon

“Would the JSON-LD app work with Horizon for structured data?”

Yes, any apps that generate structured data will be able to add it to any theme. Switching to Horizon won’t affect this.

Horizon vs Dawn vs paid themes?

“What do you think Horizon needs to make it a theme that you would recommend over Dawn or paid themes, and do you think Shopify will have it up to that standard soon?”

Well, I think that depends on what you need from a theme. Some people can stay with Dawn for years and they will be fine. Some stores are still using Shopify 1.0 themes (pre-2021) like Debut, Brooklyn etc...

For Dawn users, I’m just waiting for Horizon to mature a bit. I expect many updates very soon.

The Horizon code even contains to-do comments from the developers.

Check this out, I asked Cursor to search the entire codebase for comments about planned updates:

I’m sure there is much more coming soon.

But as I’ve said in previous emails - if I were building a new store right now, I’d do it on Horizon, but if I’m already on Dawn, I wouldn’t be in a rush to switch.

As for those already using premium themes, I’m not sure if I would ever recommend switching to Horizon.

Horizon is just really flexible, but that’s not such a big deal. Some premium themes are beautiful and a perfect match for a business. Why would you switch?

How to actually update?

“So, I have Dawn theme. If I ever want to move to horizon, how will that work? Do I have to start from scratch?”

Yes, it’s from scratch. Just download Horizon and it will go to your unpublished themes. Then start customizing until you’re happy, then publish.

Of course, your product, collection, blogs, and page content still exists and will be unaffected by the theme switch.

That’s it for today. Hope you found this mix of updates and Q&A helpful.

If you’re trying out Horizon or have any questions I didn’t cover, please comment on the online version.

See you next time,

Ed