What is new in Squarespace 7.1
Squarespace came out with new version of their website builder in early 2020. The good news is that Squarespace 7.1 is much more user friendly than Squarespace 7.0, not that 7.0 was bad, but 7.1 is better. There are a bunch of new features in Squarespace 7.1 which I will detail below.
What is new in Squarespace 7.1
Sections
On Squarespace 7.0 if you wanted a long scrolling page you created an Index and added pages inside of that via the left menu under Pages. In Squarespace 7.1 to create a long scrolling page you just click the blue plus icon as if you were adding a new block and it adds a section to your page.
Portfolio Pages
Portfolio pages are awesome! Here’s why - they allow you to batch upload images to your portfolio. They also have tons of styling options like grid layout, mosaic or slide show. You can specify the image size and spacing and if you want a lightbox or not. (Lightbox is when you click on the image and it pops up a window with a larger version of the image.) Each image can link to wherever you want it to go. For example, on The Piet template I created a visual index on the home page where each image links to a project page with more images and details about that project. Portfolio pages are a total game-changer for artists and designers showing their work on a Squarespace website
The Design Panel
In Squarespace 7.0 you change colors and fonts under Design in the left menu. In Squarespace 7.1 there is a Design Panel on the right. The Design Panel gives you access to curated font packs and the ability to change your site’s colors globally with a single click. If that isn’t reason enough to make the switch I don’t know what is. Try it and see for yourself.
Lists
So the name ‘Lists’ is not sexy, but what it can do is! Lists allow you to put chunks of content in boxes with or without images and buttons. I used that feature to style my Template Shop and put info about each template in a separate column. This is a game changer for the UX design of your site. Prior to Lists, you had to use custom code to create this look. Now it is super easy to create chunks of content that are visually prominent, say detailing your services or providing profiles of your team members. Within Lists you have the ability to adjust font size, spacing, background color, alignment and number of columns so you can style it to your liking.
Should you make the switch from Squarespace 7.0 to Squarespace 7.1?
Switching from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 is a personal decision. I actually still have my artist website on Squarespace 7.0 while this website for my business is on 7.1. I don’t update my artist website that often and I am also not relying on it for work at this point so I haven’t felt the need to move it to Squarespace 7.1, but I will move it soon. This website, however, is a site that I update often and I am very happy that I moved it to Squarespace 7.1. When I moved it from Squarespace 7.0 I wanted to go through that process as a test case before offering that service to clients. I feel the switch was totally worth it even though it took quite a bit of work. So, in summary, if you do not update your website much or have plans to make any changes in the near future, you should be fine keeping it on Squarespace 7.0. However, if your website is feeling a bit stale or you update it often, I definitely recommend making the switch to Squarespace 7.1. So what is actually involved in moving your website from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1? I’ll tell you about that in the next section.
When will importing be available in Squarespace 7.1?
Squarespace has not announced any plans to create a migration tool for importing your Squarespace 7.0 website to a Squarespace 7.1 website. Bummer, right? That means if you have a Squarespace 7.0 website that you want to move to Squarespace 7.1 you have to rebuild your site. The good news is that 1. Some of the content (blogs and stores) can be batch exported and imported into the new site. And 2. I have several premium Squarespace 7.1 templates ready to go for you. With my premium templates you get a fully built website that you just need to add your text and images too. I provide you with a suite of micro tutorials to step you through that process. And if you want to change colors and fonts, I’ll show you how to do that too. Fellow Squarepace expert, Kerstin Martin has created a checklist for you to make sure you cover your bases when making the move.
Which new Squarespace templates are the best in 7.1?
One of the big differences between Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1 is that all the templates provided by Squarespace are the same. What I mean by that is that Squarespace 7.1 websites are modular. They are all built from the same building blocks (i.e. sections) that you can customize to fit your needs. For example, you could choose the Lusaka template and transform it into the Utica template whereas in Squarespace 7.0 the features and behind-the-scenes code for each template was slightly different.
So the answer to the question ‘Which new Squarespace templates are the best in 7.1?’, in my opinion, is a Premium Squarespace Template that is created by an independent designer specifically for your niche.
Should you get a Premium Squarespace Template or use a Free Squarespace Template?
If you love DIY, have a decent design sense, knowledge of UX experience design and have time on your hands to learn Squarespace 7.1 then one of the free Squarespace templates is a great fit for you. For most people, however, I recommend purchasing a Premium Squarespace Template that is designed to your needs and style preferences. The free templates from Squarespace are good, but do require quite a bit of work to make them look like they are not off-the-shelf Squarespace websites. They are purposely designed to be relatively generic so that they appeal to a wide audience. Premium Squarespace Templates from independent designers, however, are more unique to each designer’s style and clientele. As an independent designer I cater to a much smaller audience which has two advantages to you. Firstly, fewer people are going to have a website that looks like yours when you purchase one of my templates. Secondly, I am taking requests for website templates! That is basically like getting a custom site at the template price. So submit your request today!
One of the biggest advantages of purchasing a Premium Squarespace Template is that you have access to a real person who can help you when you get stuck building your site. Not only does this save you time building your site, but also saves you from searching forums and the internet when you run into a snag building your site, as we all know will happen.
All of my templates come with a tutorial pack to step you through the building process and also provide you support when you want to go back and edit your site. Have you ever worked with a piece of software like Squarespace, got done what you needed then a few months (or years) later gone back to it and had to relearn everything? I know I have. That’s what I designed my tutorials to be short and clearly named so you can refer back to them when you want to edit your website later on. Instead of that little website edit taking you down a rabbithole for days, you can get that change done in a few minutes.
The other service I offer along with Squarespace Templates is a Website in a Day service. Website in a Day hits that sweet spot between totally DIYing your website and having a custom site built for you. The way it works is that you provide the text and images for your site and we put it all together for you in a day. Presto! Website done in a day. If Website in a Day sounds good to you, book a Curiosity Call with me and we’ll get started.
I hope you found this post helpful! If you have questions about moving your website from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 feel free to book a Curiosity Call with me and we can discuss your needs. I look forward to chatting with you.
