Front-End Choices

When implementing Algolia on your store front, you have to decide between two main approaches:

1. You can use the widgets provided by our Shopify plugin.
2. You can handle the implementation yourself, using Algolia’s InstantSearch libraries.

Depending on your needs, one method will likely prove more convenient than the other.

Here is what you should know to make the right choice.

Using Widgets provided by Algolia for Shopify

Algolia for Shopify comes with one-click install widgets:

• Autocomplete widget: an Algolia realtime search bar and menu which replaces Shopify’s default search bar.
• InstantSearch Page: an Algolia powered search results page, which comes preconfigured with features such as filtering and sorting.

You can enable the Autocomplete widget and the InstantSearch widget from the Search options tab.

You can configure both widgets from the Shopify app.

The widgets that the Shopify app provides use InstantSearch.js v4.

Using InstantSearch libraries

To set up a custom Algolia InstantSearch on your Shopify site, you need to know how to code. A personalized implementation can yield a more customized search UI, but will take more time.