[HyprMusic]

Agreed. The control they give their theme developers is shamefully woeful. You're actively encouraged to use Javascript as a work-around for their very limited templating sytem. If they were to add querying, or even just a few more options for selecting products (e.g. by type, brand, etc.) then Shopify would be a great contender to other e-commerce stores. Currently it feels they're only focused on things that can bring them more revenue.

[ericingram]

I'm the founder of Forward Commerce (http://getfwd.com), a new platform focused on giving developers more template control without all the pain.

One of our early adopters was a very notable/early Shopify customer who encountered the kind of problems you describe with templates and customization. I am pleased to say they have been successful using Forward and Shopify combined in order to solve these problems, and are planning to migrate completely when the time is right.

Shopify is a great solution for small business without irregular catalog and checkout requirements. I am however surprised that they haven't done more to support businesses that grow beyond this stage.

[HyprMusic]

Your project looks interesting, I love the fact it's open source with premium hosting - the ideal way to do it if you ask me.

[brockf]

>> Currently it feels they're only focused on things that can bring them more revenue.

That makes a whole lot of sense to me, and would be the only acceptable path to take in the eyes of their shareholders.