What Can I Customize?

The term, Commerce website, refers to a site set up for SuiteCommerce, SuiteCommerce Advanced (SCA), or SuiteCommerce MyAccount (SCMA) implementations. The following topics explain how to get started using the elements of the extension framework to customize a Commerce website.

Note:

Before you start to customize your Commerce website, be sure you understand the capabilities that are built into Commerce solutions. In many cases, you may be able to configure your site to meet your customer’s needs. For more information, see Configure Instead of Customize.

You can customize your Commerce website as described in the following table.

Customization Option	Description
Website design and appearance	You can alter the layout and style of your website by creating your own custom themes. Using the SuiteCommerce Base Theme as a starting point, you can use the theme developer tools to customize Sass, HTML, and other assets. You can also introduce new images and fonts as assets.
Website functionality	You can add or change the functionality of your website by developing extensions that include JavaScript, SuiteScript, configuration JSON, and other files. You can use the extension developer tools to create a baseline extension and then leverage the SuiteCommerce Extensibility API component classes to build upon that baseline. The Extensibility API lets you extend the core SuiteCommerce application to suit your business needs. Use any of the available component classes to customize the application and add new features or functions.
SCA source code	If you are implementing SCA and your site customization requires access to objects that are not accessible via the Extensibility API, you can use the SCA developer tools to extend SCA source code. If you plan to modify SCA, you should not edit the source code directly. Instead, you should override or extend existing source code to create the custom functionality you need.

Customization Option

Description

Website design and appearance

You can alter the layout and style of your website by creating your own custom themes. Using the SuiteCommerce Base Theme as a starting point, you can use the theme developer tools to customize Sass, HTML, and other assets. You can also introduce new images and fonts as assets.

Website functionality

You can add or change the functionality of your website by developing extensions that include JavaScript, SuiteScript, configuration JSON, and other files. You can use the extension developer tools to create a baseline extension and then leverage the SuiteCommerce Extensibility API component classes to build upon that baseline. The Extensibility API lets you extend the core SuiteCommerce application to suit your business needs. Use any of the available component classes to customize the application and add new features or functions.

SCA source code

If you are implementing SCA and your site customization requires access to objects that are not accessible via the Extensibility API, you can use the SCA developer tools to extend SCA source code. If you plan to modify SCA, you should not edit the source code directly. Instead, you should override or extend existing source code to create the custom functionality you need.

Note:

Best practice for Commerce website customization is to use the Extensibility API and the theme and extension developer tools to ensure the custom designs and functionality you develop can be easily maintained and implemented across SuitCommerce and SCA sites and versions of sites. The Extensibility API and the theme and extension developer tools are available with SuiteCommerce and SCA.

Next Steps

To learn more about	See
The extension framework and the ways it streamlines Commerce website customizations	Benefits of the Extension Framework
The skills you need to customize Commerce websites, the developer tool requirements, and supported scripts and languages	What Resources Do I Need?
The stages of the development life cycle, tools provided for each stage, and delivery options for themes and extensions	What is the Development Life Cycle?
How to get started with themes or extensions	Choose a Tool

To learn more about

See

The extension framework and the ways it streamlines Commerce website customizations

Benefits of the Extension Framework

The skills you need to customize Commerce websites, the developer tool requirements, and supported scripts and languages

What Resources Do I Need?

The stages of the development life cycle, tools provided for each stage, and delivery options for themes and extensions

What is the Development Life Cycle?

How to get started with themes or extensions

Choose a Tool

Next Steps

Related Topics