Question 1

BigCommerce Blueprint vs. Stencil: What’s the Difference?

Accepted Answer

Stencil is BigCommerce’s current theme platform that incorporates the latest best practices in technology, design standards, conversion, and SEO. A common misconception is that Blueprint and Stencil are just different styles of BigCommerce theme. In fact, the differences between them are much deeper. Stencil and Blueprint are different frameworks.

A framework is the foundational code base that a website is built on. It’s like the engine that powers a car. Stencil outperforms Blueprint because its “engine” (code base) is better.

As stated by BigCommerce, “Blueprint, our legacy theme framework, was built on a rigid, proprietary codebase, making it difficult for developers to customize and extend theme functionality. Stencil themes are built on non-proprietary, open-source code to minimize the learning curve for developers and to provide access to the best developers in the industry.”

Question 2

Can’t I just copy my Blueprint site over to a new Stencil theme?

Accepted Answer

When it comes to Blueprint and Stencil, the actual code is different. Our developers have to “translate” what was coded according to Blueprint’s conventions into Stencil’s framework.

Stencil’s code is written in a much more modern and developer-friendly way than Blueprint’s. Not only will this improve site performance and SEO, it will save you money in the long term when it’s easier for your developer to make further changes.

Question 3

Will moving to Stencil hurt my SEO?

Accepted Answer

This is a common misconception based on a misunderstanding about what it actually takes to move your site to Stencil. Site migrations – such as moving a site from another platform, like Shopify to BigCommerce – can interfere with your rankings if not done properly (and, even when done properly, usually still have a temporary negative effect).

But a Stencil move isn’t a migration. It’s the same website and platform, just with better code. So, while Google’s bots will have to recrawl it, they’ll encounter streamlined code and a user-friendly, modern design. This will actually boost your SEO rankings, which has been the experience of our clients that move to Stencil from Blueprint. Across the board, we see that clients who move to Stencil see SEO improvements.

Question 4

Can I keep my site’s current customizations and add-ons?

Accepted Answer

This is one of the most common questions that we get from merchants thinking about moving to Stencil. The short answer is: yes, you can, and they’ll perform even better on Stencil. The slightly longer answer has to do with how these customizations are developed.

Stencil allows developers to create customizations by making modifications to its base code. This is the best and most efficient way to create a customization. For example, if you wanted a make a change to your your Shopping Cart, the developer can write code that works with Stencil to tell the Shopping Cart what to do.

This isn’t the case with Blueprint, where the code base cannot be modified. Customizations written on Blueprint must work against the existing behavior, resulting in bulky code that slows down your loading time. For example, if a developer wanted to make a change to the Shopping Cart on Blueprint, they couldn’t just tell Blueprint to do it. They’d have to stop Blueprint from executing its default behavior before being able to tell it to do the new behavior. This is far less efficient.

Question 5

Which BigCommerce Theme Platform do I have?

Accepted Answer

How do you know which platform your BigCommerce store is on? The easiest way to tell is by going to the back office of BigCommerce, and within the control panel go to the “Storefront”. If you see “Footer Scripts” listed then your store is on Stencil, if not, then you are on Blueprint. Learn more about how to check your theme here.

Question 6

Do I have to make changes to my BigCommerce back office?

Accepted Answer

No! This is one of the most convenient things about a Stencil move. Migrating from Blueprint to Stencil does not mean you will need to reimport all of your data or rebuild products, categories, etc.  Since it’s the same website, your inventory can stay the way it is. Moving to Stencil only affects the customer-facing part of your site.

Question 7

Why should I hire a developer instead of buying a template?

Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, there is no copy and paste method to convert a store. You can simply choose and apply a theme, but that does not guarantee that everything on your store will work correctly, and any customizations that you currently have will not exist anymore.

The best method to convert a store from Blueprint to Stencil is by getting BigCommerce experts to rebuild your BigCommerce theme on Stencil.

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