Navigate to Layouts > Homepage to manage your store's homepage preferences, design, and branding. Your homepage will be the first thing customers see when they visit your online store.

The Run Free platform allows you to choose between three styles of homepages, custom homepage, classic shop page, or page builder page which will act as your online storefront. Just tap the radio button next to the design you'd like to use:

The custom homepage option gives you total control over how your online storefront appears to your customers by way of an easy-to-use configuration tool. It features a slides section that allows you to display your own banner images, category tiles featuring images you choose, a search bar, brand buttons, and vendor release pods with featured images directly from your favorite brands. An example of the custom homepage style is shown below.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT! We've added pro tips throughout the custom homepage configuration area to help you get the look and feel you want. Just look for the pro tip icon as shown below.

The custom page layout allows you to change the order in which the content sections appear on your homepage with the Page Section Order tool.

Simply click and drag the sections up and down into the desired order. Sections types are defined below.

Configure your slides, which are often referred to as "banners", in this section.

You can add as many slides as you would like, and your customers can use the arrows at each edge of a slide to scroll to the next one. You can also assign a URL to each slide, so that when your customer clicks on it, it takes them to a specific area of your store. The Slides section can be turned off entirely by toggling "Show" to off in the upper right corner of the section.

An example of a slide is shown below.

Tap the "Add More +" button in the Slides Section to add additional slides, and tap the red "X" circle in the upper right corner of each slide configuration area to remove it.

Tap "Upload an Image" to upload your own image to display on your homepage as a slide. Images should be rectangular with a resolution of 1800 pixels wide x 700 pixels tall. You can link slides to pages in your store by copying and pasting the URL in the "Slide Link URL" area.

Configure your category tiles in this section. An example of the customer's view of the Shop By Category Section is shown below.

Note the phrase in large black font is configured in the "section title" area, and the smaller phrase beneath it is configured in the "section subtitle" area in the section shown below. You can add as many category tiles as you would like, assigning a URL to each tile, so that they act as buttons, taking your customer to a specific area of your store.

Tap the "Add More +" button in the Slides Section to add additional slides, and tap the red "X" circle in the upper right corner of each slide configuration area to remove it.

Tap "Upload an Image" to upload your own image to display as this category's tile. Images should be square with a resolution of 1000 pixels wide x 1000 pixels tall. Enter the category name as you want it to appear to your customer, displayed on this category tile, in the "label" field. You can link category tiles to pages in your store by copying and pasting the URL in the "URL" field.

The Shop By Category section can be turned off entirely by toggling "Show" to off in the upper right corner of the section.

The Shop By Brand section is entirely automated based on your settings in the Manage Brands section of your store, which is fed by the Run Free Project's integration with your inventory system. An example customer view of the Shop By Brand section is shown below.

On the custom homepage configuration dashboard, you can set the section title, the section subtitle, and toggle Shop By Brand off entirely by toggling "Show" to off in the upper right corner of the section. The section configuration for the customer view in the image above is shown below.

The Run Free Project has partnered with your favorite brands to help you promote new product releases. These brands provide ready-made "full-width pod" images and "half-width pod" images that you are free to use. An example customer view of the Vendor Releases section is shown below.

The Vendor Releases section configuration area allows you to add and remove full width and half-width pods, using pre-loaded, pre-styled images from the vendors, or your own images. An example of this configuration area is shown below.

The section title and section subtitle can be set using the corresponding fields of the same name at the top of this configuration area, and you can add as many pods as you would like, assigning a URL to each, so that they act as buttons, taking your customer to a specific area of your store.

Full-Width Pod: A full-width pod is roughly the same size and shape as a slide. It holds an image that is rectangular, with an optimal resolution of 2000 pixels wide x 500 pixels tall.

Half-Width Pod: A half-width pod is roughly half the size of a full-width pod, and is designed to display neatly next to another half-width pod on your custom homepage. It holds an image that is rectangular, with an optimal resolution of 1000 pixels wide x 500 pixels tall.

The Vendor Releases section can be turned off entirely by toggling "Show" to off in the upper right corner of the section.

The Featured Items section is entirely automated based on items marked as "Featured" in the Item Details pages in the Manage Inventory section of your store, which is fed by the Run Free Project's integration with your inventory system. An example customer view of the Featured Items section is shown below.

On the custom homepage configuration dashboard, you can set the section title, the section subtitle, and toggle Featured Items off entirely by toggling "Show" to off in the upper right corner of the section. The section configuration for the customer view in the image above is shown below.

The classic homepage view is best described as the "standard" three-section e-commerce experience. An example of the classic homepage style is shown below.

The classic homepage auto-populates based upon your selections in the store settings, manage branding, and categories areas of the Run Free administrator dashboard.

You also have the option of selecting a page builder layout. Select Page Builder Page and use the dropdown to select the desired page.

To learn more about how to use the custom homepage builder, check out this video. We also include for step-by-step instructions to create beautiful slides, banners, and tiles for your running store's e-commerce landing page on the Run Free Project platform using GIMP, a free image editing tool.