Why the Austin Theme?

Themes for ecommerce stores tend to be repetitive in nature. Sure, each theme will have differences here and there, but a lot of the foundation remains resoundingly similar. This can get pretty stale over time for both users and for merchants that may want something a bit more specialized and distinct.

We knew we could bring something next level to the table as our first BigCommerce theme - Austin. Included out of the box are stand-out homepage sections that are fully customizable, eye-catching above the fold layouts for category pages, along with a fresh look at product pages.

Each theme variant for Austin consists of slightly different styling, allowing the theme to function successfully across multiple verticals. The 'Light' variant is easily the most versatile of the three, and can effortlessly work for just about any type of product. The other two variants (Night and Vogue) are a bit more specialized, but if utilized properly can really make a brand stand out.

The Details

Great homepage designs should always present a way to do these two things - at a minimum: a.) Allow a merchant the ability to make it clear who they are, what they do and what they offer through coherent content and messaging, and b.) Provide an opportunity for frictionless product funneling, or, an easy way for a user to navigate to products and categories. With the Austin theme, we took it a step further and we created a truly unique design that inspires a user to keep scrolling. The design triggers a rare sense of curiosity in users, driving them further down the page. This opens the door to give a merchant more opportunities to push their messaging and product funneling, and creating more consumer trust. It’s a fun design overall, with an even more exciting flow.

For the product page, we went for something more minimalistic to help push users to purchase. With the use of this simple, clean design, we’re able to keep the user’s focus on what’s important: the product and the potential benefits of it. A single, impactful product image gives the user all they’ll need to get a visual of the product without overwhelming them. A short description above the fold helps introduce the product to the user by giving them a glimpse inside what makes the product special. The options are displayed in a stylistic, easy to control manner, and the product details are laid out in a digestible, easy-to-grasp 2-column format. We also added the ability to add downloadable materials with the use of BigCommerce’s custom fields.

Taking a note from BigCommerce’s base Cornerstone theme, Austin makes use of the versatility of advanced HTML attributes to bring its consumers a smoother front-end experience when viewing image slideshows and product carousels. Rather than loading these unique scripts after the page content has populated, causing visual elements to appear to shift around erratically, they are initialized along with the content, greatly reducing the traditionally distracting behavior.

Javascript and JQuery are the ringleaders in terms of running most of Austin’s attractive features, such as the main navigation dropdown and correlating intelligent breakpoints in screen sizes, ensuring the theme looks its best on any device.

In addition, Austin also utilizes the Apollo CLI library to interact with a store’s front-end API, displaying additional product information on catalog cards; this feature lets your customers know which items have multiple cosmetic options before they even navigate to the full product page.

The whole package is supported with the use of robust Stencil handlebars and BigCommerce’s integrated JSON configuration methods, making this a theme that it is not only easy for beginners to modify, but also provides them with a means to make their store feel unique to their business.

Summary

With oBundle's Austin theme for BigCommerce, our mission was simple: to bring something new and special to the BigCommerce theme store — a modern shopping experience while staying true to what makes an ecommerce store successful. We wanted to create something modern yet unique, while being both visually stunning and user-focused - and we believe we've done that with Austin.