How to Use Horizon Sections in Dawn Theme

Shopify’s Horizon theme has introduced a fresh, modular approach to building pages with layouts, groups, and nested blocks that make creating custom sections easier and more flexible than ever.

But what if you’re using Shopify’s Dawn theme (or any other Online Store 2.0 theme) and want to take advantage of these Horizon sections? The good news: you can, and I’ll show you how.

Why You’d Want Horizon Sections in Dawn

Dawn is Shopify’s flagship starter theme. It’s clean, fast, and a great foundation but it doesn’t come with all the advanced layout and block options Horizon offers.

With Horizon’s sections, you can:

• Build complex layouts without code thanks to layout + group blocks
• Nest blocks inside other blocks for a flexible page structure
• Create reusable, consistent design patterns across your store

If you like Dawn’s simplicity but wish it had more flexible building tools, mixing in Horizon sections is the best of both worlds.

1. Understanding Horizon

Horizon by nature is a complex theme consisting of a large quantity of files. You won't be able to directly copy over files from Horizon to Dawn since they use different styling rules and design language. 

2. Use Flexi (Similar to Horizon)

If you like the modular architecture of Horizon with layouts, groups, and nested blocks then you’ll love Flexi.

Flexi uses the same structure, but as a full section library you can install into any Shopify theme (including Dawn) without manually copying files. It’s the fastest way to add modern, flexible sections without worrying about missing snippets or assets.

3. Customize in Dawn’s Theme Editor

Once your Flexi section is in Dawn, you can:
 • Add it to any template
 • Use layout and group blocks to organize content
 • Nest other blocks for advanced designs

Final Thoughts

Horizon’s section architecture makes Shopify themes more powerful and adaptable. Flexi gives you the same architecture plus a growing library of professionally designed sections ready to drop into Dawn or any theme.