Error & password pages

The Uisce theme includes premium-grade 404 and password page experiences. This guide covers the settings and features for both surfaces.

For support troubleshooting, see Error pages support.

404 page

Per-preset hero SVG

Each preset ships a unique hero SVG for the 404 page stored at assets/404-{preset}.svg. The SVG is inlined at render time — no extra HTTP request. The correct SVG renders automatically based on the active preset.

Override with a custom SVG:

To use a merchant-custom SVG, replace assets/404-{preset}.svg with your own file via the code editor (Online Store > Themes > ⋯ > Edit code > Assets). Keep the file small — it is inlined into the page HTML on every 404 view.

Merchant toggles:

Setting key	Default	Controls
show_hero	true	Shows/hides the hero SVG
show_search	true	Shows/hides the inline search form
show_recently_viewed	true	Shows/hides the recently-viewed section

Search form

The 404 page renders a thin <form action="/search" method="get"> — a standard HTML form submission, not predictive. Predictive search is deliberately excluded from the 404 page to keep the page lightweight, with no JS initialization overhead.

Recently-viewed products

The recently-viewed section reads from localStorage — one uisce.state.v1.recently-viewed.{handle} entry per viewed product — the same primitive used for the recently-viewed section on other pages. If a visitor has browsed products before landing on the 404, their recently-viewed products appear automatically — zero configuration required.

Toggle: show_recently_viewed (checkbox, default: ON).

noindex emission

To mitigate soft-404 SEO risk, the Uisce theme emits:

{% if request.page_type == '404' %}
  <meta name='robots' content='noindex,follow'>
{% endif %}

This meta tag is emitted from layout/theme.liquid and supplements the HTTP 404 status code. Googlebot respects both signals — the page will not be indexed.

You do not need to configure anything. The noindex meta tag is emitted automatically on every 404 page.

Per-preset brand voice

Each preset ships a distinct body copy key for the 404 page:

Preset	i18n key	English copy
Uisce	404.body.uisce	"You've drifted off course."
Gaoth	404.body.gaoth	"Lost in the breeze."
Talamh	404.body.talamh	"Wandered off the path."
Tine	404.body.tine	"You missed the spark."
Neart	404.body.neart	"The road forked."

All 5 keys are translated across 50 locales with zero English leakage. You can override the copy via locale customization in the theme editor.

Password page

Logo and LCP

The password page renders settings.logo with fetchpriority="high" — this marks the logo image as the LCP candidate, ensuring the browser prioritizes it in the loading queue. The logo must be set in Theme Settings → Logo for this to render.

Toggle: show_logo (checkbox, default: ON).

Per-preset hero SVG

Each preset ships a unique hero SVG for the password page stored at assets/password-hero-{preset}.svg. The SVG is inlined below the heading and body copy, above the countdown and the password form.

To replace with a merchant-custom design, upload the new SVG via the code editor (Online Store > Themes > ⋯ > Edit code > Assets). Keep the file small — it is inlined into the page HTML.

Toggle: show_hero (checkbox, default: ON).

Countdown timer

The password page supports a countdown timer for store launches via the <count-down> Custom Element.

Setup:

1. Theme editor → Templates → Password → Password section → enable Show countdown.
2. Use the Year, Month, Day, and Time selects to set your store launch date.
3. Save — the countdown starts immediately.

The Year select becomes visible after you enable Show countdown. The Month, Day, and Time selects appear once you choose a year.

Reduced-motion guard: The countdown ticker respects prefers-reduced-motion. With motion disabled, the ticker is hidden and a static launch date is shown instead — the numbers do not tick.

RTL native digits: On RTL locales (ar, fa), the countdown ticker renders native digits (Arabic-Indic numerals). The <count-down> Custom Element uses Intl.NumberFormat with locale-appropriate digit rendering.

Toggle: show_countdown (checkbox, default: ON).

shop.password_message override

If you have configured a custom password message in Shopify admin → Online Store → Preferences → Password protected → Message, that message renders after the theme's per-preset body copy — merchants who already configured shop.password_message will not see their message replaced. There is no body text setting in the section; the theme copy comes from the locale files.

Newsletter capture

The password page includes a newsletter block for lead-gen during the pre-launch period.

Enable / disable:

• Theme editor → Templates → Password → Password section → Show newsletter (checkbox, default: ON)
• Setting key: show_newsletter_block

The newsletter form uses the same snippets/newsletter-form.liquid as the footer: subscribing is the consent action — a hidden marketing-consent field rides the submission — with no separate consent checkbox and no cookie-consent gating.

Social links

The password page renders social links from global settings.social_*. Configure your social accounts in Theme Settings → Social media.

Toggle: show_social (checkbox, default: ON).

Localization form

The password page mounts the localization form for country/region and language switching (the country picker shows each country's currency) — useful for international stores launching to a multilingual audience.

Toggle: show_localization (checkbox, default: ON).

Standalone layouts

The password page renders layout/password.liquid — a standalone layout that does not include layout/theme.liquid. This standalone layout includes:

• Font preload and load
• window.uisceStrings translation registry
• Skip-link for keyboard navigation
• Full <html lang dir> attributes for RTL support

The gift-card landing page (/gift_cards/{code}) renders layout/gift-card.liquid, also a standalone layout (see Gift card guide). The gift-card layout emits a noindex robots meta tag; the password layout ships none — password-protected storefronts rely on the platform to stay out of search results.

These pages render independently of the main theme layout so they load cleanly even when the rest of the theme has not been configured.

Accessibility

Both 404 and password pages comply with WCAG 2.1 AA. Key accessibility features:

Feature	404	Password
Skip-link	Yes	Yes
Heading tabindex="-1" for focus management	Yes	Yes
aria-live region	No — search submits as a plain page navigation	Yes (countdown + form errors)
Color contrast ≥ 4.5:1 across 5 schemes	Yes	Yes
Keyboard-navigable search form	Yes	N/A
<count-down> aria-live for tick	N/A	Yes
Newsletter form aria-invalid + role="alert"	N/A	Yes
Reduced-motion countdown guard	N/A	Yes

Settings reference

404 page settings (sections/404.liquid)

Setting key	Type	Default	Controls
color_scheme	color_scheme	—	Color scheme
show_hero	checkbox	true	Per-preset hero SVG
show_search	checkbox	true	Thin search form
show_recently_viewed	checkbox	true	Recently-viewed products

Password page settings (sections/password.liquid)

Setting key	Type	Default	Controls
color_scheme	color_scheme	—	Color scheme
show_logo	checkbox	true	settings.logo with fetchpriority=high (LCP candidate)
show_hero	checkbox	true	Per-preset hero SVG
show_countdown	checkbox	true	<count-down> Custom Element
Year / Month / Day / Time selects	select	(empty / 01 / 01 / 09:00)	Launch date for countdown timer. Year appears after enabling Show countdown; Month, Day, and Time once a year is chosen
show_newsletter_block	checkbox	true	Newsletter capture form
show_social	checkbox	true	Social links from global settings
show_localization	checkbox	true	Localization form

Related guides

• Error pages support
• Gift card guide
• Theme settings
• Color schemes