The Role of Aarcade Support

AARCADE DOES:

• provide support (via this support site) for customising Aarcade-made themes via in-built theme features and functions only.

AARCADE DOES NOT:

• provide support or services for customisation of non-Aarcade-made themes.
• provide support for customisation of Aarcade-made themes beyond that allowed by in-built theme features and functions.
• provide customisation services – e.g. installation, set-up, content creation, custom coding, etc. – for any themes or content beyond the standard installation service.
• provide support or services for design / development of custom pages, themes, shops or sites.

We would love to be able to answer every question about customising your theme (i.e. HTML, CSS, API, etc.), but unfortunately these questions quickly add up to a lot of work for us. Our small team is already spread thin just keeping up with our project and support work load. For this reason, it is extremely important that we keep our unscheduled work dedicated to support services only.

Aarcade Advanced Customisation Category

We add extra support articles to the Advanced Customisation Category when we can. Please review the articles in this category for help in applying your own advanced customisations.

Take Control

In a lot of cases, desired customisations can be easily achieved by adding simple CSS to your custom style coding area.

Primary CSS references:

• How do I create custom override styles?

Additional CSS references:

• Big Cartel – Customizing your store
• w3schools CSS tutorials
• Don’t Fear the Internet – Basic CSS & HTML for non-web designers

If your customisation requires the physical addition of content or functionality, you will also need to customise your page content in the Big Cartel Customize design admin area using HTML, inline styles and, in some cases, the Big Cartel API*.

We strongly recommend the use of Insert Content pages in preference to customising your core theme pages (e.g. Layout, Home, Products, Product, etc.) wherever possible.

Recommended HTML and API references:

• w3schools HTML tutorials
• w3schools – inline styles
• Don’t Fear the Internet – Basic CSS & HTML for non-web designers
• Big Cartel API*

*You should only need the Big Cartel API if you are customising your shop user interface or creating dynamic content, e.g. displaying text that includes your latest product names.

Access the Big Cartel Help and Developers

Big Cartel have provided a help site specifically to help you with your Big Cartel account use and customisation. If you have a question about customising your theme coding or creating custom page HTML content, we strongly recommend that you:

1. Use Big Cartel’s help site as your main reference for theme customisation
2. If you require theme design, development or customisation services or assistance, employ a developer from Big Cartel’s list of experienced designers

Google It! – Stack Overflow – Learn From Others

The fastest way to learn is by seeing how others do it. There are millions of internet tutorials that are just a Google search away.

Stack Overflow is one of our favourite places to find professional answers to advanced coding questions. If you have a concise coding question, we recommend that you make searching for the answer on Stack Overflow your first step.

You can also use your web browser to view the source code and linked stylesheets of your favourite web sites, to learn how to create the type of layout your prefer. Remember, this coding should be used for learning only; never copy the work of others.

Web Browser tools like Developer Tools for Safari, Developer Tools for Chrome and Firebug for FireFox can also be invaluable for learning and debugging your coding.