The __Advanced Theme Code__ section is for people who are very comfortable using HTML/CSS and want to make more in-depth changes to their shop’s design. This area is for the kinds of design changes that can’t be made using the [__basic Design tools__](/resources/help/article/how-to-customize-your-theme "customize your theme using basic Design tools") or by switching to another one of our [__built-in themes__](/resources/help/topic/themes "Big Cartel built-in themes").

For example, this is where you would edit your theme code to translate your shop into another language, [__add videos__](/resources/help/article/embed-a-video "add video to your theme code") to your Home page, or change the navigation style. 

>If you need to add a script or tag from a third-party service, like Mailchimp or Pinterest, paste those in the __[Integration Code](/resources/help/article/integration-code)__ section instead. Scripts added to the Integration Code will remain saved in your theme unless you manually remove them or downgrade to our free Gold plan.

All shops on paid plans have full access to their theme code (HTML/CSS). Shops on the free Gold plan only have access to their CSS for simple changes to style elements. 

Edits made to the Advanced Theme Code will be removed if you change or update your theme. You can [__Download your theme code__](/resources/help/article/back-up-your-theme "download your customized theme code") to save a copy of your custom code to add back to the Advanced Theme Code section if you do update or switch themes.

>We recommend that only people comfortable editing and maintaining custom code work in the Advanced Theme Code section. If you aren’t familiar with HTML/CSS and you need to customize your theme code, we recommend hiring a designer to assist you.

### Additional Information about Advanced Customizations

- While most pages in your shop are accessible for advanced customizations, the checkout page is not editable at this time. 

- When editing your CSS, we recommend you place any custom code at the bottom of the CSS page instead of editing the code directly. This will allow you to easily adjust or remove any custom elements without having to reset your CSS to the default code.

- Big Cartel themes use Liquid markup as the theme’s language. Check out our [__Developer__](https://developers.bigcartel.com/ "Developer page for advanced theme and store customizations") page for more information about advanced tools available for developers.

- You can include custom Javascript, stylesheets, or font files in the __[Integration Code](/resources/help/article/integration-code "Integration Code")__ and Advanced Theme Code sections. However, all files must be hosted externally—we don’t offer file hosting.

>Have a specific coding question? Try posting on __[Stack Overflow](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/bigcartel "Stack Overflow for Big Cartel ")__ or search their resources using a Big Cartel tag to find coding advice.


Advanced Theme Code

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