Boardwalk Section Guide

Collection Header

Everything you need to set up and customize the Collection Header block — from displaying a hero banner with your collection image to positioning the title, description, and product count.

About

A collection header is a visual banner that appears at the top of a collection page. It gives shoppers an immediate sense of what the collection is about and sets the tone for the products below. Think of it as a storefront window display for each product category.

In the Boardwalk theme, the Collection Header block displays the collection's image as a full-width background with text content layered on top. It supports three child blocks — Title, Description, and Product Count — which can be added, removed, and reordered. When a collection doesn't have an image assigned, the header automatically switches to a clean text-only layout.

Note: The collection image used in this header is set in your Shopify admin under Products → Collections → [Your Collection] → Image. This is separate from any product images in the collection.


How to Set Up the Collection Header

Follow these steps to add and configure the Collection Header on your collection pages using the Boardwalk theme.

1
Add a Collection Image in Shopify Admin

Go to Products → Collections in your Shopify admin. Open the collection you want to customize and upload an image in the Image section on the right side of the page. This is the image that will appear as the background of your Collection Header.

Tip: For best results, use a high-resolution image (at least 2000px wide). The image will be displayed full-width, so landscape orientations tend to work best.

2
Open the Theme Editor

In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store → Themes, find Boardwalk, and click Customize. Use the page selector dropdown at the top center of the editor to navigate to a Collection page template.

3
Add the Collection Header Block

Click Add block in the Theme Editor sidebar and choose Collection header from the list. The block will appear on your page with the collection's image as a background banner and the title, description, and product count layered on top.

4
Configure the Block Settings

Click the Collection header block in the sidebar. From here you can control the banner height, content position, text alignment, overlay style, and colors. These settings control the overall look of the entire header.

5
Customize the Child Blocks

Inside the Collection Header block, you'll find child blocks for the Title, Description, and Product Count. Click on each one to adjust its typography and appearance. You can also reorder or remove child blocks you don't need.

6
Save and Preview

Click Save in the Theme Editor. Preview your collection page to verify the header image, overlay, and text content are displaying as expected.


Collection Header Settings

These settings apply to the Collection Header block as a whole. Click the top-level Collection header block in the Theme Editor sidebar to access them.

Image Settings

Show collection image

When turned on, the collection's image (set in the Shopify admin) is displayed as a full-width background behind the text content. When turned off, the header switches to a text-only layout with no fixed height.

Content Position Settings

Text alignment

Controls whether the text content inside the header is aligned to the left, center, or right.

Vertical position

Positions the text content vertically within the banner. Options: Top, Middle, or Bottom.

Horizontal position

Positions the text content horizontally within the banner. Options: Left, Center, or Right.

Content padding

Controls the spacing between the text content and the edges of the banner. Range: 16px to 80px. On mobile devices, padding is automatically reduced to 65% of the desktop value.

Content max width

Sets the maximum width of the text content area. Use this to prevent text from stretching too wide on large screens. Range: 320px to 960px.

Layout Settings

Desktop height

Sets the height of the banner on desktop screens. Range: 160px to 640px. This setting only appears when Show collection image is turned on.

Mobile height

Sets the height of the banner on mobile screens. Range: 120px to 480px. This setting only appears when Show collection image is turned on.

Overlay & Color Settings

Overlay style

Adds a color layer on top of the collection image to improve text readability. Options: None (no overlay), Solid (flat color fill), Gradient (bottom) (fades in from the bottom), or Gradient (full) (a subtle-to-strong gradient from top to bottom). This setting only appears when Show collection image is turned on.

Overlay color

Sets the color of the overlay. Supports transparency, so you can fine-tune how much of the image shows through. This setting only appears when Show collection image is turned on.

Text color

Sets the color of all text inside the header, including the title, description, and product count. This setting only appears when Show collection image is turned on. When the image is hidden, text color follows your theme's default foreground color.


Child Blocks

The Collection Header contains three child blocks that control what text content appears inside the banner. Each block can be added, removed, and reordered independently.

Title

Displays the collection's name as a prominent heading inside the banner. The title is pulled automatically from the collection's name in your Shopify admin — you don't need to type it manually.

  • Heading tag — Controls the HTML heading level (H1, H2, H3, or Paragraph). Choose H1 for the main page title to help with accessibility and search engine visibility.
  • Font size — Sets the size of the title text. Range: 18px to 80px. On mobile, the font size is automatically reduced to 70% of the desktop value.
  • Font weight — Controls the thickness of the title text. Options: Normal, Medium, Semibold, or Bold.
  • Line height — Controls the spacing between lines of text if the title wraps to multiple lines. Range: 0.9 to 1.6.
  • Letter spacing — Adjusts the space between individual characters. Options: Tight, Normal, or Wide.
Description

Displays the collection's description text inside the banner. Like the title, this is pulled automatically from the collection's description in your Shopify admin. It supports rich text formatting (bold, italic, links, etc.).

  • Font size — Sets the size of the description text. Range: 12px to 24px.
  • Text opacity — Controls how transparent or solid the description text appears. Lower values make the text more subtle. Range: 40% to 100%.
  • Max lines — Limits how many lines of the description are visible. When the text exceeds this limit, it is cut off with an ellipsis. Set to 0 to show the full description with no limit. Range: 0 to 8.

Note: To edit the collection description text, go to Products → Collections → [Your Collection] in your Shopify admin. The description entered there will automatically appear in the Collection Header.

Product Count

Displays the number of products in the collection. This count updates automatically as you add or remove products from the collection. The count only appears when the collection has at least one product.

  • Display style — Controls how the count is displayed. Options: "12 products" (with the word "products"), "12 items" (with the word "items"), or "12" (number only).
  • Font size — Sets the size of the count text. Range: 10px to 20px.
  • Text opacity — Controls how transparent or solid the count text appears. Range: 30% to 100%.
  • Padding top / Padding bottom — Adds extra spacing above and below the product count. Range: 0px to 36px. On mobile, padding is automatically reduced to 75% of the desktop value.

Built-In Features

The Collection Header comes with features that work automatically — no apps or custom code needed.

Feature Overview

Automatic text-only fallback

When a collection has no image assigned, or when Show collection image is turned off, the header automatically switches to a clean text-only layout. The fixed height is removed and text color follows your theme's default foreground color.

Focal point awareness

If you've set a focal point on your collection image (using Shopify's built-in focal point editor), the Collection Header will use it to keep the most important part of the image visible, even when the banner is cropped on different screen sizes.

Responsive image loading

The collection image is served at the optimal size for each visitor's screen. Smaller devices download a smaller file, which helps your pages load faster without sacrificing quality on large displays.

Mobile-friendly sizing

The banner height, content padding, and title font size are all automatically adjusted on mobile devices so the header looks proportional on smaller screens without any extra configuration.

Description line clamping

Long collection descriptions can be neatly truncated with an ellipsis using the Max lines setting on the Description child block. This keeps the banner looking clean even when collections have lengthy descriptions.

Flexible overlay options

Choose from four overlay styles — none, solid, bottom gradient, or full gradient — to improve text readability over any image. The overlay color supports transparency, giving you precise control over the final look.


FAQs

There are two common reasons. First, make sure the Show collection image setting is turned on in the Collection Header block settings. Second, verify that the collection actually has an image assigned. Go to Products → Collections → [Your Collection] in your Shopify admin and check the Image section on the right side. If no image is uploaded there, the header will display in text-only mode.
Use the Overlay style setting to add a color layer between the image and your text. The Gradient (bottom) option works well when your text is positioned at the bottom of the banner. You can also adjust the Overlay color and its transparency to find the right balance between image visibility and text readability.
Yes. Each piece of text content (Title, Description, Product Count) is a separate child block. To hide one, simply click on it in the Theme Editor sidebar and remove the block. You can always add it back later by clicking Add block inside the Collection Header.
The product count only appears when the collection contains at least one product. If the collection is empty, the count is automatically hidden. Also confirm that a Product Count child block has been added inside the Collection Header block.
Because the image fills the entire banner area, some cropping will happen depending on the banner height and screen size. To control which part stays visible, set a focal point on the image. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Files, find the image, and use the focal point tool. The Collection Header will keep the focal area centered when cropping.
Yes. Each collection uses its own image, which is set individually in the Shopify admin under Products → Collections → [Your Collection] → Image. The Collection Header block automatically pulls the correct image for whichever collection page the visitor is viewing.