Overview
How do you build performant, flexible, well-architected UI in a space you don’t fully control?
When working within a CMS or platform like Shopify, the end user of your frontend code isn’t just the customer – it’s also the merchant, site owner, or content manager who’s clicking around in a visual editor, toggling settings, and dragging blocks around. They don’t write code – but they do expect to control layout, styling, and content.
This talk explores the unique challenges of frontend development inside CMS-driven ecosystems: systems where your markup isn’t sacred, your CSS isn’t isolated, and your carefully planned design system is often at the mercy of a toggle buried three levels deep.
Using Shopify as a case study, we’ll dive into the weird, sometimes chaotic space where dev meets content. You’ll learn how to structure your code to survive unpredictable content changes, how to design with guardrails, and how to build interfaces that scale without falling apart in the editor.
Objective
Teach frontend developers how to build resilient UI in platforms where content and layout are controlled by non-devs.
Target Audience
Frontend developers building for platforms where merchants or clients manage layout and content
Things Audience Members Will Learn
- Strategies for writing CSS and markup that survive unexpected editor input
- How to structure schema and content blocks for guardrails, not rigidity
- Performance pitfalls caused by merchant-editable content (and how to fix them)
- Balancing design systems with visual flexibility in dynamic environments
- What Shopify and similar CMS platforms expect from modern frontend devs