I didn’t realize this, but I created my original site on the Brine template back in 2015! That’s crazy! I didn’t even realize it had been that long. But yep, my Squarespace site grew with me when I was side-hustling, working full-time at a day job while building my business at nights, and on the weekends. My site then shifted with me as I went full-time in 2019 and it’s shifting again as I’m growing my business with a baby in tow.

During the last several years, Squarespace introduced an updated version of their interface, 7.1 and they made so many significant changes, the only way to update your current Squarespace site is to start over from scratch on the new version.

When I was scouring the Help articles from Squarespace trying to find out how I could jump on the 7.1 bandwagon, I was a little discouraged to find that I would need to build out my site from scratch - who has time for that?

But it was something I kept on my mind and eventually put on my plate and finally (as of last week) completed and launched my new 7.1 site. I want to share with you some of the key benefits of switching over if you’ve thought about it. I would love to show you some side-by-side comparisons of my old and new site and how the new version truly makes your life easier as a business owner.

So let’s start at the beginning:

First of all, Google started a new algorithm this month (June 2021) where it would punish slow sites and unfortunately, my old site was exactly that -sooooo slow! It would drag and take seconds to upload. While that doesn't sound terrible, you don’t have that kind of time to waste when someone is clicking over to your site. Peoples’ attention span is slipping down from only 7 seconds so you want to make sure your site loads as fast as possible.

So that was a big reason for me to transition over: to be in Google’s good graces when it comes to being found online. So if that meant cleaning up my site and focusing on speed, then I was all for it.

If you transition over from 7.0 you’ll also be in a better position when it comes to Google and getting found online.

Secondly, I wanted more ease of use with my site. I learned a lot of coding to make my old site what it was. And if you looked into the coding block on my old site, you can scroll for quite a while til you hit the bottom. While coding isn’t a bad thing, that can slow down (and even break) your site if you’re not careful. 

Honestly, you don’t want a lot of code, and thankfully with 7.1 you don’t even need to add coding.

So let’s get into to the design and backend and talk specifics, here’s 10 big and small changes I love with Squarespace 7.1

1.One template to rule them all

Before, you had to choose a template to start your site. Now, every single page has every template option. So no longer are you restricted to certain constraints within the template. Squarespace still provides beautiful template designs if you don’t know where to start. They’re beautifully organized and you can click into whichever design you want to use. You can also choose to start from “Blank” which is what I do most of the time. But it’s wonderful to have the options, especially for my clients who may just need a quick page beautifully laid out.

2. No more index pages (hallelujah!)

What’s an index page? Well back on the Brine template, an index page was the only way to have multiple sections as you scroll down.
Now when you go to create a page in 7.1 you’re provided with that one page and you can create as many additional sections beneath it as you would like - without creating additional pages. Which makes for such a cleaner backend and more simple way to see what pages you have.

3. A new portfolio feature

As a designer, or anyone who showcases their work, this one was a huge trouble spot in the old version. Before there was no way to organize your work in a beautiful and easy way. The gallery block was your only option for keeping things looking organized, but that isn’t enough when you have multiple pieces in your portfolio. AND the backend was incredibly disorganized and lengthy and difficult to navigate.
With 7.1 they've solved all these problems by creating a whole portfolio button where you can organize your work with a cleaner backend. It now has the feel of a blog post, where you go into each portfolio page you can create a full spread of your work– which is awesome for designers, photographers, and artisans!

4.Online stores made easier

Not only is the portfolio more beautiful and easier to manage on the backend, so is the shop. Rather than having all your products on one page, now your store is organized by categories. Which is incredibly useful especially for people who have a variety of products or services for purchase. And in 7.1, you can upload your products with the new interface or you have the option to revert to the old interface, which is really nice if you wanna go back and forth.

5.The color palette & themes

I think this is one of the most brilliant features, especially after working in other platforms and seeing this feature, I was hoping Squarespace would deliver and they did! This is one of the most unique and complex features when it comes to the design and it’s a way to make your site maintenance a breeze. The color palette is where you can choose up to 5 colors in your palette and and then those colors are applied to themes. You have up to 10 themes, Lightest 1 and Lightest 2, Light 1 and Light 2, Bright 1 and Bright 2, Dark 1 and Dark 2, and Darkest 1 and Darkest 2. Within each of these themes you can make adjustments to EVERYTHING including font colors, image designs, navigation colors, links, galleries, blog, summary block, and everything else. Each theme is completely customizable to your brand. Which is amazing because once you’ve selected your colors and styles for each theme, then you can play with your entire site with the click of a button without having to manually make changes, you can simple click from Lightest 1 to Dark 2 to see all the changes and it’s pretty awesome.

6. Streamlined navigation and logo

Another nice change is that the navigation and logo are now their own separate place for editing. Now you don’t need to search through the design tab to find what you’re looking for when it comes to the navigation, it’s all simple and streamlined when you click “edit site header” when you’re in the page editing mode. Here you can easily toggle the shopping cart, social links, a call-to-action button, and more in one convenient place.

7. Page sizing

This is another amazing feature. Before you had to use spacer blocks to get the page sizing you wanted. More space on top? Add a spacer. Want to add space on that side? Add a spacer. Now, you can choose between Section Height, Content Width, and Content Alignment all in one place when you’re in the page editing mode- how amazing is that! This is such a nice feature because now you can quickly and easily change the page’s spacing (height and width) and make it look exactly the way you want it.

8. More font options

Before, you had the body text and Heading 1, Heading 2, and Heading 3 (which is not a whole lot of options when you’re designing). I would always use code to create more fonts I could use. But not for 7.1! They created a whole tab just for fonts where you can choose up to 4 Headings, and 3 Paragraph styles. Within each one you can choose style such as letter spacing and style and it honestly makes designing a whole lot easier.

9. Line color changes

Ok, this one may not seem like a big deal, but to me this was always something I disliked in the old version. When I would put a line into the site, maybe to separate a section, the line always appeared black and I couldn’t change the color of it without coding. Again, this may not seem like a big deal, but when you’re creating a high-end site, you want a subtle line, like the color of light grey so it doesn’t draw that much attention.
Well, with 7.1 you can now change the line color in each and every color theme! If you want your line to be the color of light grey in the Lightest 1 theme, you can. If you want it to be blue on the Darkest 2 theme, you can. Having this creative freedom, all without code, is such a fun addition when designing your site.

10. Improved speed

This one was a big one for me. My old site was very slow - compared to present-day standards. And due to the fact that my site was large, a lot of my images weren’t properly sized, and the endless lines of coding, it wasn’t where I wanted it to be in terms of speed. 

And Google also started a new algorithm in June of 2021 where sites get punished for slow loading speeds.
With the new site design, speed has improved dramatically and especially when all files and images are loaded properly on your site, it makes for a better customer experience when someone lands on your site. A win-win!

These are all the design changes I’ve noticed and love and the reason I switched over from my perfectly good site on Squarespace 7.0. But making the switch has been one of relief knowing that my site is set up to do well on Google, and that I now can quickly and seamlessly add pages in my new design style in a matter of minutes. 

If you’re on the old version of Squarespace and are thinking of transitioning over, I highly recommend it. If you’re ready for more ease-of-use in design, a cleaner backend, faster loading speeds, and tons of more design capabilities, then perhaps looking into upgrading to Squarespace 7.1 would be a great idea.

I would love to hear if you’re on the old or new version, what has been your experience?

And if you’re looking for a designer to help you make the switch over to 7.1, look no further!

I design in both the old and new versions and would love to help you with making the switch over. 

Reach out to me here and let’s chat!