Sections that need setup now say so

Some sections cannot work on their own. A popup that shows a discount code does not create that discount: it displays the code and applies it at checkout, and your own discount rules decide everything after that. Until now nothing said so, so the first sign of a problem was a code that appeared to do nothing.

Twenty sections have a dependency like that. Opening any of them in the catalog now shows what it needs, above the Add to theme button, with a link that opens the exact screen in your Shopify admin where you can set it up.

There are four kinds:

• A discount code, for the popup, countdown and sale sections that display one.
• A published blog post, for the blog sections. With no articles they render as an empty strip rather than an error.
• A reviews app, for the sections that show star ratings. Without one the stars stay hidden and the rest of the section works normally.
• A best-selling collection, for Best Sellers. The ranking tabs only appear when the collection you pick is sorted that way.

One detail is worth calling out, because it is the most common cause of a code that looks broken: the discount type has to match the offer. A buy-one-get-one needs a "Buy X get Y" discount. Created as a percentage, the code will apply correctly and the second item still will not be free.

Also in the catalog

The "New this week" tab is gone. It filtered to the same sections the catalog already lists first, so it was a control for something the default order was doing anyway. New sections now carry a New badge on the card instead, which stays visible whichever category or sort order you are browsing.

Filter counts now match what you will actually get. Pick a category and the tab counts narrow with it, rather than continuing to count the whole library, and a tab with nothing in it no longer shows a zero.

Your filters are also part of the page address now, so a refresh keeps them and you can send someone a link to exactly the view you are looking at.