Episode 049 - Dave Warrington, Senior Demo Engineer at Shopify
Liquid Weekly Podcast: Shopify Developers Talking Shopify DevelopmentShow Notes
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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More from Liquid Weekly Podcast: Shopify Developers Talking Shopify Development
Taylor is in India for Shop Quest, so Karl flies solo with Charles Swayne, owner and app developer at JadePuma Apps and the person behind Datify. Charles is 21, learned Python in sixth grade, and now runs a multi-agent development workflow that researches, plans, audits the plan, executes, and tests itself before he ever looks at the code.
Georgi Petrov, CEO and co-founder of Uxify, joins Karl and Taylor to talk about the half of web performance nobody optimizes for: the shopper's device. After building SMS Bump (acquired by Yotpo), ConsentMo, and NitroPack (acquired by WP Engine), Georgi is now tackling device-specific friction, the laggy buttons, layout shifts, and interaction delays that vary wildly from one phone to the next. We get into how Uxify profiles a visitor's capability without touching your code, the specialized agents that fix problems on the fly, the ClickHouse-powered data layer behind it all, and how to think about performance heading into BFCM. Plus the Dev Changelog and Picks of the Week. Sponsor The Support Heroes: https://www.thesupportheroes.com/ Subscribe to Liquid Weekly Don't miss out on expert insights and tips. Subscribe to Liquid Weekly for more content like this: https://liquidweekly.com/ Find Georgi Online Uxify: https://uxify.com/integrations/shopify/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgipetrov/ Timestamps (00:00) Open (00:29) Intros (02:11) Meet Georgi Petrov of Uxify (02:54) Origin story: hardware hacking to his first software (06:03) Finding Shopify: SMS Bump, ConsentMo, and NitroPack (12:23) Making fast decisions and failing cheaply (15:32) Why Uxify: performance is half website, half device (20:11) How it works: profiling devices and adapting on the fly (26:17) Sitting alongside your theme without touching your code (28:26) Real user monitoring and specialized agents (37:47) The tech stack: ClickHouse and heavy browser testing (41:57) Shopify cart variations and a clever checkout fallback (46:24) Prepping for BFCM and who Uxify is for (51:14) Dev Changelog (58:22) Picks of the Week Dev Changelog [action required] Variants now support multiple barcodes: https://shopify.dev/changelog/product-variant-barcode-is-being-replaced-by-barcodes Create and delete dev stores in Shopify CLI: https://shopify.dev/changelog/create-and-delete-dev-stores-in-shopify-cli [action required] Discounts Allocator Function API developer preview has ended: https://shopify.dev/changelog/discounts-allocator-function-api-developer-preview-has-ended Delivery options in Shopify Functions input now expose their metafields: https://shopify.dev/changelog/delivery-options-in-shopify-functions-input-now-expose-their-metafields Prepare your app for the Shopify admin's new look: https://shopify.dev/changelog/prepare-your-app-for-the-shopify-admins-new-look [action required] Updates to Events payloads and subscription configuration: https://shopify.dev/changelog/updates-to-events-payloads-and-subscription-configuration New Pricing audit trail for contextual product variant prices: https://shopify.dev/changelog/pricing-audit-trail-for-contextual-product-variant-prices [breaking api change] [action required] Removed session.currentSession.staffMemberId from POS UI Extensions (2026-10): https://shopify.dev/changelog/removed-session-currentsession-staffmemberid-from-pos-ui-extensions-2026-10 Request a bundle size exception for existing UI extensions: https://shopify.dev/changelog/request-a-bundle-size-exception-for-existing-ui-extensions Picks of the Week Karl: Keto Oreo-style sandwich cookies (about 50 calories each), part of his ongoing tour through packaged keto snacks: https://www.choczero.com/products/keto-sandwich-cookies Georgi: Calisthenics between AI prompts. Knocking out push-ups and squats while waiting on an agent, which he says burns the time well and sharpens his focus when he comes back. Taylor: Ted Lasso, season 4 on Apple TV+. Still, in his words, one of the most wholesome shows around: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10986410/
Prakhar Shrivastava of FoxSell joins Karl and Taylor to talk about Shop Quest, the Shopify community event he and his team run in Bengaluru, and to prep Taylor for his first trip to India.
In this episode of the Liquid Weekly Podcast, hosts Karl Meisterheim and Taylor Page are joined by Alexander Hupfer, founder of Fusion Metrics and a solo Shopify app developer.
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