Unlocking the Magic of Shopify: How to Use Product Titles as Variables in Descriptions

I remember the first time I tried customizing my Shopify store—boy, was it a ride! I'd spent hours trying to get everything just right, like shaking a broken Etch A Sketch hoping the picture would miraculously form. My coffee was lukewarm, and my patience was running thin, yet I couldn't for the life of me make the product title appear dynamically in the description. That's when it hit me: we need to harness the power of Liquid.

This post is for all of us who have wrestled with Shopify's templating language and come out on the other side, fingers stained with QWERTY's finest. Let's dive into making the product title sing the siren song in our descriptions.

Step 1: Understand the Liquid Syntax

Before we dive in like synchronized swimmers in a technological pool, let's decipher a little about Liquid, the templating language used by Shopify. Imagine Liquid as the bacon to our coding eggs—a necessary bonding agent. It's logic and placeholder magic rolled into one.

Here's the kicker: Liquid can be used within Shopify themes to dynamically insert data. In our specific need, we're going to leverage {{ product.title }} in a way that Shopify naturally understands. This will allow your description to adapt magically to the product title, creating 200 elegant unique snowflakes in your product catalog.

Step 2: The Liquid Solution for Product Descriptions

"I've poured through the docs! The solution is as elusive as Bigfoot," you might say. No worries, fellow traveler of the e-commerce cosmos. What we want to do is shake hands with Liquid right inside the product pages.

In your administrative panel, we're headed to the Edit Code section under Online Store > Themes. Don't be shy; the code won't bite. It might nibble a bit—beware of typos, those rascals.

<p>
  {{ product.title }} is a fig tree variety from AJ's Collection. We will learn more about this
  variety during the growing season of 2025.
</p>

Now, if you've inserted the code directly into the product description field and it didn't work—like trying to open a door by staring intensely at the doorknob—this is because Liquid doesn't directly process that HTML field text. Instead, what we need is a tweak of our setup to include the Liquid syntax where it belongs.

Step 3: It's All in the Template

Think of Shopify templates as mad scientists' labs where all the exciting transformations happen. Our focal point is the product-template.liquid file. This is where your genius shines.

In this file, you will want to add or adjust the part of the code that handles product descriptions. Find the part of the file where the product description is rendered. It might look somewhat like this:

<div class="product-description">
  {{ product.description | escape }}
</div>

To allow Liquid to process the {{ product.title }} variable, you need to adjust the code block to directly include it:

<div class="product-description">
  <p>{{ product.title }} is a fig tree variety from AJ's Collection. We will learn more about this variety during the growing season of 2025.</p>
</div>

Step 4: Save, and Celebrate!

Once you’ve modified the template, save your changes. Give yourself a pat on the back—or an entire celebratory dance. Reload your product page and bask in the glory of seeing the product title waltz its way into your descriptions.

If it doesn't work on the first try, retrace your steps. Remember, like a soufflé, code needs precise measurements. Check for typos, and make sure you're editing the correct template file. Perhaps take a moment to sip that coffee—it's stone cold by now.

Wrapping Up: The Joy of Success

Every mastery starts as a journey, and Shopify is no exception. We've turned frustration into functionality, leading us down the path of e-commerce enlightenment. So here's to us—hunters of the code, builders of stores, and champions of the automated workflow.

If the tribulations of Shopify customization ever get you down, remember this: we're all in this digital sandbox together. Let's continue sharing our victories, big and small. Life's better that way—a little bit full of HTML tags, and a whole lot of camaraderie.