Pages and templates

Signal ships nine page templates in addition to the default one. Each is a pre-composed layout — a masthead, the right sections in the right order, with demo copy already written. None of them appear on your store until you create a page and assign the template to it.

This is the single most-missed setup step, and it’s why a freshly installed Signal can feel like it’s missing half the theme.

How to assign a template

1. Go to Shopify Admin → Online Store → Pages and click Add page.

2. Give it a title. The title becomes the handle (the part in the URL), so “Size guide” gives you /pages/size-guide. You can edit the handle under Search engine listing at the bottom of the page editor.

3. Leave the content body empty for the templates below. These layouts build their content from sections, not from the page body. (The one exception is the Default page template, which does render the body.)

4. In the Theme template dropdown on the right, choose the matching template from the list.

5. Save, then open Online Store → Themes → Customize, pick the page from the template dropdown at the top, and replace the demo copy with your own.

Tip

Create the page before you try to edit its template in the theme editor. Shopify needs something real to preview, otherwise the editor shows the layout against an empty page and several sections look broken when they aren’t.

The nine templates

Template to choose	Create a page called	Recommended handle	What the template builds
about	About	/pages/about	Masthead, split feature, a timeline of the brand’s record, a logo strip, a founder’s note, a construction callout, newsletter
contact	Contact	/pages/contact	A contact form with channel blocks beside it, and an FAQ underneath
faq	FAQ	/pages/faq	Masthead, two FAQ accordions (orders and shipping, fit and sizing), and a contact block
lookbook	Lookbook	/pages/lookbook	Masthead, a shoppable lookbook with product pins on each shot, newsletter
shipping	Shipping and returns	/pages/shipping	Masthead, a delivery-and-returns panel with policy points and shipping zones, and an FAQ
size-guide	Size guide	/pages/size-guide	Masthead, a measurements table with how-to-measure steps, the fit finder, and a fit FAQ
stockists	Stockists	/pages/stockists	Masthead, a city-by-city stockist list with an optional map embed, newsletter
wishlist	Wishlist	/pages/wishlist	The saved-items grid
(default)	any other page	—	A plain page that renders the page body you type in admin

Caution

Use the recommended handles unless you have a reason not to. Several of the theme’s own defaults link to them: the wishlist setting falls back to /pages/wishlist, the size guide and shipping templates link their side notes to /pages/contact, and the demo countdown button points at /pages/lookbook. If you change a handle, update the links that point at it.

Templates that need something extra

Wishlist

Two things to do beyond creating the page:

1. Make sure Enable wishlist is on in theme settings.
2. Set the Wishlist page setting (wishlist_url) to your new page.

The heart icon in the header opens the wishlist drawer, which works on any page. The page itself is the full-grid view, and it is also where the header link goes if scripting has not loaded. Saved items live in the visitor’s own browser, so they work for guests and signed-in customers alike — but they don’t follow a shopper to another device.

Contact

The contact section uses Shopify’s native contact form, so submissions arrive at the sender email set under Shopify Admin → Settings → Notifications. Check that address is one someone reads.

Add one Channel block per way of reaching you — email, Instagram, a phone number, press enquiries. The form itself needs no configuration.

Size guide

Two sections to fill in:

• Size chart — set Columns to a comma-separated list of measurements (Chest, Waist, Hip, Sleeve, Length), then add one Size row block per size, with its values comma-separated in the same order. Add Measuring step blocks for the how-to-measure notes, and use the Footnote to say whether your numbers are garment-flat or body measurements. (Signal’s demo copy says garment-flat — change it if yours aren’t, because this is the single most common cause of a return.)
• Fit finder — add Question blocks, each with a key and a list of options, and Result blocks keyed to match, each pointing at a product. Mark one result as the fallback so there’s always an answer.

The variant picker on the product page also has its own Size guide link with its own content, so a shopper never has to leave the product to check a measurement. Keep the two in step.

Lookbook

Add one Shot block per image. Each shot can carry up to three product pins, positioned with X and Y sliders as percentages across the image — so a shopper taps the jacket in the photo and gets the jacket. Set the alignment, aspect ratio and focal point per shot so the page doesn’t read as a uniform grid.

Stockists

Add one Stockist block per location, with a city, address and optional link. The Map embed URL setting takes an embed URL (from Google Maps’ “Share → Embed a map”, for example) and renders it above or alongside the list; leave it empty for a list only.

Shipping and returns

The Delivery & returns section uses two kinds of block: Point blocks for policy statements, and Zone blocks for your shipping regions with their costs and times. Keep these in step with your real rates under Settings → Shipping and delivery — a published policy that contradicts checkout causes support tickets.

Templates that already exist for you

These need no page created; Shopify routes to them automatically.

Template	Page	Notes
index	Home	Twenty sections of drop-brand homepage. See Quick start
product	Every product	Block-based. See Theme blocks
collection	Every collection	Filtering, sorting, and a choice of numbered pages, a load-more button or infinite scroll
list-collections	/collections	The all-collections index
blog / article	Your blog and posts	Point the homepage Dispatch section at the blog you want featured
search	/search	Shares the filter and sort drawer with the collection page
cart	/cart	The full cart page; the drawer is the default experience
404	Not found
password	Password page	Shown while the store is password-protected
customers/*	Account, login, register, order, addresses, activate account, reset password	Only reachable when customer accounts are enabled

Note

Collection and search filters come from Shopify’s storefront filtering, which you set up in the free Shopify Search & Discovery app. With no filters configured, the collection page’s Filter button has nothing to show — turn off Enable filtering on the section until you’ve set them up.

Creating extra templates

You can create as many alternate templates as you like from the theme editor: open any template, then use the template dropdown’s Create template option. Useful cases in Signal:

• A second product template for pieces that need a different block order — say, a collaboration with no size guide and a longer story.
• A second collection template with a different column count or pagination style.
• A landing page template built from homepage sections, for a single drop.

Assign alternate templates per product, collection or page in the admin record’s Theme template dropdown.

Checklist

1. Eight pages created — about, contact, FAQ, lookbook, shipping, size guide, stockists, wishlist.

2. The matching template assigned to each.

3. Handles left at the defaults, or every link that points at them updated.

4. Wishlist page setting pointed at your wishlist page.

5. Contact form notification address confirmed.

6. Size chart filled in with your measurements, and the footnote corrected.

7. All eight pages linked from a menu — see Navigation and menus.

Next step

Demo content — the collections, products and images the shipped setup expects.