Theme Development

Overview

Elevate works seamlessly with Shopify's theme architecture, but there are some important considerations when making updates to your themes to ensure your A/B tests and theme development workflows continue to run smoothly.

Avoiding conflicts with theme development workflows

Elevate has built-in methods to ensure that visitors participating in theme tests are properly managed when tests conclude or when they shouldn't be included in testing. However, these methods may sometimes interfere with normal theme development and preview workflows. Follow the guidance below to minimize these interferences and keep your workflows running smoothly.

How to use the 'eabUserPreview' parameter to exclude yourself from test behaviors

When a theme test has concluded, Elevate will redirect any visitors from the B variant back to the main theme. This redirection also applies to store owners and developers if your browser was included in the test.

Additionally, if a website visitor is not being tracked by Elevate and is viewing a theme preview, Elevate will redirect them back to the main theme to prevent confusion. This includes store owners and developers previewing themes when your browser doesn't contain Elevate tracking data.

To bypass this behavior when previewing themes, you can append an eabUserPreview=true parameter to your theme preview URL. This parameter will set an eabUserPreview cookie in your browser that tells Elevate you are a store owner/developer, and the automatic redirect behavior will be disabled.

Example preview URL with the parameter:

https://yourstore.myshopify.com/?preview_theme_id=1234567890&eabUserPreview=true

This parameter works for:

• Preview links you share with team members

• Incognito/private browser sessions

• Automated testing tools that use browsers (like Selenium or Puppeteer)

How to remove the 'eabUserPreview' exclusion

To reset and re-enable normal visitor redirect behavior, you'll need to remove the eabUserPreview cookie from your browser:

1. Open developer tools in your browser (Chrome: Cmd + Shift + C on Mac, Ctrl + Shift + C on Windows)

2. Navigate to the Application/Storage tab and locate the Cookies section

3. Find your store's domain and look for the eabUserPreview cookie

4. Delete the cookie by right-clicking on it and selecting "Delete"

This will remove the exclusion and restore the redirect behavior intended for regular website visitors.

How to check your current 'eabUserPreview' status

If you need to verify whether you're currently excluded from Elevate's redirect behavior, you can check your browser's cookies:

1. Open developer tools in your browser (Chrome: Cmd + Shift + C on Mac, Ctrl + Shift + C on Windows)

2. Navigate to the Application/Storage tab and locate the Cookies section

3. Find your store's domain and look for a cookie named eabUserPreview

4. Check the value:

   • If the cookie exists and is set to true, you're excluded from redirect behavior

   • If the cookie doesn't exist or is set to false, normal visitor redirect behavior applies

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues with your A/B tests after theme updates:

1. Clear browser cache: Hard refresh your store to ensure you're seeing the latest changes

2. Check for JavaScript errors: Open browser developer tools and look for any console errors

3. Use preview parameter: Add ?eabUserPreview=true to exclude yourself while testing

For additional support, contact our team through the Elevate app dashboard or email support.