In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page are joined by Dave Warrington, a senior demo engineer at Shopify. The conversation explores various aspects of development within the Shopify ecosystem, particularly focusing on Liquid, demo engineering, and the evolution of theme development.

Dave shares his journey into the development world, his experiences at Shopify, and insights into performance considerations when working with Liquid. The trio also discuss the importance of community engagement, public speaking, and the latest updates in the Shopify changelog, including new developer tools and features.

Find Dave Online

• Website: https://ellodave.dev/
• LinkedIn:   / david-warrington  
• Twitter(X): https://x.com/warringtondavid

Resources

• Nick Weselman's Next Gen Developer Platform migration video: https://x.com/ShopifyDevs/status/1962...
• Horizon theme (now open source): https://github.com/Shopify/horizon
• Building Sections schemas with JS: https://ellodave.dev/blog/article/bui...
• ESBuild Plugin Liquid Schemas: https://www.npmjs.com/package/esbuild...
• Shopify Schema Utils: https://www.npmjs.com/package/shopify...
• Leeds Shopify Partners Meetup details: https://partnersnorthmeetup.uk/produc...

Dev Changelog

• Setting permitsSkuSharing argument to false when creating a fulfillment service returns an error - https://shopify.dev/changelog/setting...
• Next-Gen developer platform now available to all app developers - https://shopify.dev/changelog/next-ge...
• Build an Announcement Bar Extension for the Thank You page or Customer Account Pages - https://shopify.dev/changelog/build-a...
• @inContext directive supports visitor consent for privacy-compliant checkouts - https://shopify.dev/changelog/inconte...
• Global HS code is now supported in GraphQL Admin API - https://shopify.dev/changelog/country...

Picks of the Week

• Karl: "Danger UXB" by James Owen (book about WWII bomb disposal)

• Dave: Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War Definitive Edition
• Taylor: Andrea Morone's Attributes Pro and SupaEasy App for payment method-based discounts

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction to the Podcast and Guests

02:02 Dave Warrington's Journey into Development

04:52 Exploring Liquid and Its Applications

07:49 The Role of a Demo Engineer at Shopify

11:01 Building Internal Tools and Demos

13:32 The Benefits of Using JavaScript in Liquid Development

17:01 Theme Development: Agency vs. Public Themes

20:11 Understanding Theme Blocks and Their Limitations

23:16 Navigating the Challenges of Theme Blocks

25:52 Feedback on Theme Development and User Experience

28:49 Liquid Hacks and Best Practices

34:30 Exploring Visible If in Shopify

36:04 The Evolution of Theme Development

39:23 Performance Considerations in Liquid

41:17 Best Practices for Liquid Coding

47:27 The Growth of Shopify's Platform

51:14 Public Speaking and Community Engagement

54:30 The Importance of In-Person Interactions

01:01:57 Dev changelog

01:06:07 Picks of the week

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