Solving the Mystery of Overlapping Shopify Product Tabs: A Community Fix

Hey everyone! You know that feeling when you've painstakingly set up a custom feature on your Shopify store, it's working beautifully, and then suddenly... it's not? That's exactly what happened to MegaM, a fellow store owner in our community, who recently reached out for help with their product tabs. It's a classic case of 'it was working yesterday!' and a great example of how a small code change can have a big impact.

The Case of the Collapsed Tabs

MegaM was using a custom 'Product tabs #4' section, likely a custom liquid snippet or a third-party section, on their store running the DAWN (or Radiant) theme. Previously, everything was perfect: clean tabs, easy navigation with arrows, and content displaying just as expected. Take a look at how it was supposed to function:

But then, after some code edits, things went sideways. MegaM described two main problems:

1. Different tabs were overlapping, with all titles displayed on the same page, making scrolling impossible.
2. Tab content was no longer displaying correctly.

It looked something like this – a jumbled mess where all the content tried to show at once, completely breaking the tab functionality:

Why Custom Sections Break: The Missing JavaScript Link

This kind of issue is super common when you're working with custom liquid sections, especially those that implement interactive elements like tabs, carousels, or accordions. As SectionKit, another helpful expert in the thread, pointed out, "This usually happens when the custom liquid code for the tabs is changed and loses its JS or has duplicates, so all tabs stack and show at once."

Essentially, while the HTML (the structure) and CSS (the styling) might still be there, the JavaScript (the brains behind the interaction) goes missing or gets corrupted. Without the JS, the browser doesn't know how to hide and show tab content or enable navigation, so it just displays everything at once.

The Community's Detective Work

The beauty of the Shopify community is how quickly folks jump in to help. Several members, including Moeed and tim_tairli, immediately asked MegaM to share their store's preview password so they could inspect the live site. This is a crucial step in debugging – you can't fix what you can't see!

suyash1 also weighed in, suggesting to "compare current script and css to the one which were used when it was working fine." This is always a solid piece of advice when something suddenly goes awry after code changes.

The "Aha!" Moment: A Missing Script Tag

The breakthrough came from tim_tairli, who did some excellent detective work. By comparing MegaM's current code to the original demo code for the 'Sections Store' section, they pinpointed the exact culprit: a missing line that loaded an external JavaScript library. Here's what the original, working code looked like:

                  
. That's a reference to Swiper.js, a popular JavaScript library used for creating touch-enabled sliders and, in this case, product tabs. Without it, the tab functionality simply couldn't work!


How to Fix Overlapping Product Tabs on Shopify
If you find yourself in a similar predicament with your custom product tabs or any other interactive custom liquid section, here's a step-by-step guide based on the community's solution:



Backup Your Theme (Seriously!)
Before you touch any code, always, always, always duplicate your live theme. Go to your Shopify admin > Online Store > Themes, find your current theme, click 'Actions' > 'Duplicate'. This is your safety net!


Access Your Theme Code
From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes. On your current theme, click 'Actions' > 'Edit code'.


Locate the Problematic Section
Navigate to the 'Sections' folder (or potentially 'Snippets' or 'Assets' if it's an older custom implementation). Look for the file related to your product tabs. In MegaM's case, it might have been something like product-tabs-4.liquid or a custom liquid section file.


Compare Your Code to the Original
If you have a backup of the code from when it was working, or if the section came from an app or a demo site, find that original code. Look for differences. Pay close attention to 

Make sure it's placed correctly within the existing script structure.

Save and Test

Click 'Save' and then immediately check your product pages to see if the tabs are functioning correctly again. Clear your browser cache if needed.

General Troubleshooting Tips for Custom Liquid Sections

• Check for Duplicates: Sometimes, instead of a missing script, you might accidentally duplicate a script tag, which can also break functionality.
• Inspect IDs and Classes: Ensure that any IDs or classes referenced by JavaScript in your section code haven't been accidentally changed or deleted.
• Browser Console: Always open your browser's developer console (usually F12 or right-click > Inspect > Console tab) to look for JavaScript errors. These errors often point directly to the problem.
• Test on a Duplicate Theme: If you're unsure, make changes on a duplicated theme first before pushing them live.

MegaM confirmed their problem was fixed, which is fantastic! This whole scenario highlights just how delicate custom code can be and the immense value of the Shopify community. It's a reminder to be diligent when editing theme files and to always have a backup. Building a robust and beautiful store on Shopify means sometimes diving into the code, but with careful steps and the help of others, even tricky issues can be resolved!