Squarespace has emerged as a leading website-building platform, empowering individuals and businesses to craft beautiful online presences. While its user-friendly interface and stunning templates provide a solid foundation, unlocking true website potential often lies in mastering the platform’s lesser-known capabilities. This blog post dives into advanced Squarespace techniques, providing you with valuable tips and tricks to enhance your website’s functionality and achieve a truly distinctive online presence.
Table of Contents
- Section 1: Mastering Domains in Squarespace
- Section 2: Understanding Template Functionality in Squarespace 7.0
- Section 3: Why Template Switching is Absent in Squarespace 7.1
- FAQ Section
- Conclusion
Section 1: Mastering Domains in Squarespace
1.1 The Power of Multiple Domains
Imagine this: you’ve secured the perfect domain name for your Squarespace website – “myawesomebusiness.com”. But what about those potential visitors who might misspell it? Or those who habitually type “.net” instead of “.com”? This is where the power of multiple domains comes in. Squarespace allows you to connect multiple domain names to a single website, ensuring that you capture all possible traffic variations.
Registering variations like “my-awesome-business.com”, “myawesomebusiness.net”, or even common misspellings like “myawsomebusiness.com” redirects those users to your primary site. This broadens your reach, prevents competitors from snatching similar domains, and provides a more professional and comprehensive online presence. This tactic is especially helpful if you are changing domain names, and want to ensure visitors using your old domain are still directed to your website.
1.2 Navigating Squarespace’s Domain Management
Before diving into connecting multiple domains, it’s crucial to understand the relationship between Squarespace sites and domains. Think of your website as your house, and your domain as the house’s address. You can have one house with multiple addresses leading to it. Squarespace provides a flexible system for managing domains, offering various options:
- Connecting a domain to a site: This is the standard practice where you link a domain like “mybusiness.com” to your active Squarespace website.
- Parking a domain: This involves registering a domain but not connecting it to a full website yet. It usually redirects to a simple placeholder page (often called a parking page), keeping your domain secure while you prepare your website.
- Redirecting a domain: You can redirect a domain to an entirely different website, even one outside of your Squarespace account. This is helpful for consolidating branding or phasing out an old website.
You can have multiple websites on one Squarespace account. You can also have two domains one site Squarespace. There is no limit to the number of domains you can add to your site, so feel free to experiment with different domain forwarding options to find what works best for you. For example, if you want to point a domain to a specific page, such as a landing page for a new product or a special promotion, you can set up domain forwarding to achieve that.
1.3 Optimizing for Search Engines with Multiple Domains
A common concern with multiple domains is their potential impact on search engine optimization (SEO). Will having multiple domains pointing to the same website confuse search engines and hurt your rankings? Rest assured, Squarespace has you covered.
The platform smartly redirects all connected domains to your primary domain for SEO purposes. This ensures that search engines understand that all those variations ultimately lead to one main website, avoiding any penalties for duplicate content. You can designate a primary domain through your Squarespace dashboard, which will be the address that appears in search results and is used for SEO purposes. If you are changing domain names, you can set up a redirect from your old domain to your new domain to ensure that your SEO ranking is not affected. You can make a domain your primary domain by going to your Squarespace dashboard and following the instructions for Squarespace make primary domain.
Section 2: Understanding Template Functionality in Squarespace 7.0
2.1 The Art of Template Switching
Squarespace 7.0 introduced a powerful feature – the ability to switch templates, sometimes referred to as changing themes. This allows you to dramatically change your site’s design and layout while preserving your precious content. Unlike tweaking site styles, which provides granular control over specific elements, Squarespace changing templates offers a complete visual and structural overhaul.
The process is straightforward: you install a new template, preview it to see how your existing content fits within the new structure, and finally, publish it to make it live for your visitors. This opens up a world of possibilities, enabling you to experiment with different aesthetics and functionalities without starting from scratch.
However, it’s essential to remember that template switching is ONLY possible in Squarespace 7.0. Version 7.1 utilizes a single, unified template family offering all features and customization options, eliminating the need for traditional template switching.
2.2 Planning for a Seamless Template Transition
While Squarespace changing templates is convenient, it’s not a simple drag-and-drop affair. Certain design elements are “template-specific” and will reset when you switch. Understanding what changes transfer and what gets reset is crucial for a smooth transition.
Here’s a breakdown:
Template-Specific Changes:
- Site Styles: Fonts, colors, button styles, spacing – these are all tied to the specific template and will reset to the new template’s defaults.
- Custom CSS: Any custom CSS code you’ve added for specific design tweaks will no longer apply.
- Navigation Order: The order of pages in your navigation, including those in the “Not Linked” section, will likely change.
- Homepage Settings: The designated homepage for your site might reset.
- Sidebar & Footer Content: Content added to sidebars and footers is usually template-specific and will need to be re-added.
- Headers & Footers: Designs and content within page headers and footers are often tied to the template and might reset.
- Background Images: Background images set for your website or specific sections might not transfer.
- Demo Content: Many templates come with pre-populated demo content that will appear when you install the template.
Changes That Transfer Across Templates:
- Pages & Content: Your pages and their text, images, galleries, and other content will remain intact.
- Blocks: Content blocks you’ve added to your pages will generally transfer to the new template, but their positioning and appearance might adjust depending on the new template’s layout.
- Blog Posts & Gallery Images: Your blog content and images within galleries will remain.
- Products & Events: If you have an online store or event calendar, these items will transfer to the new template.
- Page Settings: Individual page settings, like featured images, page URLs, and SEO titles, will usually transfer.
- Logo & Site Title: Your website’s logo and main title should carry over.
- Code Injections: Code injections for analytics or other integrations typically transfer.
To ensure a smooth transition, consider duplicating key pages for testing within the new template before making it live. This allows you to experiment without impacting your live website. You can duplicate a page in Squarespace by going to your Pages panel and following the instructions for duplicating pages.
2.3 Troubleshooting Special Page Types
Some Squarespace 7.0 templates have unique page types not supported by others. When switching to a template that lacks support for these special pages, they might convert to a different type or temporarily disappear.
- Index Pages: Index pages, which create visually nested navigation, usually convert to a simple dropdown menu in unsupported templates.
- Info Pages: Info pages, often used for contact or about sections, might not display in unsupported templates. If you are using an info page as your homepage, remember to change your homepage to a different page type before switching templates.
- Project Pages: Project pages, designed for showcasing portfolio items, typically convert to standard gallery pages in unsupported templates.
2.4 Uninstalling and Reinstalling Templates
Squarespace 7.0 allows you to uninstall templates, removing them from the “Templates” tab in your design panel. While this can help you declutter your template options, it’s essential to understand the consequences. Uninstalling a template permanently deletes all template-specific changes, including site styles, custom CSS, navigation order, and content added to sidebars and footers.
You can reinstall a template if you’d like to start fresh with it or if you want to reset all the style changes you’ve made to a template. However, be aware that discontinued templates cannot be reinstalled.
2.5 Working with Multiple Installed Templates
Having multiple templates installed on your Squarespace 7.0 site provides flexibility for experimenting with different designs. Here are some tips for managing them effectively:
- Identifying the Live Template: The “Templates” panel clearly indicates the live template with a “Live” label next to its name. This is the template your visitors currently see.
- Understanding the “Previewing” Label: When you’re previewing a template, it will have a “Previewing” label in the “Templates” panel.
- Using Search to Find Templates: If you have many templates installed, use your browser’s search function (Ctrl+F or Command+F) to quickly find a specific template by name.
- Keyboard Shortcuts for Navigation: The “?” keyboard shortcut can quickly switch you between different panels, making it easier to compare how your content looks in various templates.
Section 3: Why Template Switching is Absent in Squarespace 7.1
In contrast to version 7.0, Squarespace 7.1 utilizes a single template family where all features and style options are accessible within any site. This design approach eliminates the need for traditional template switching, as all 7.1 websites share the same underlying structure and capabilities.
While you can’t “switch” templates in the traditional sense, you can still achieve substantial design changes through extensive site style customization. Editing color palettes, font choices, adding different page sections, and incorporating various content blocks empower you to create a unique website within the 7.1 framework. Although you can’t switch templates in version 7.1, there are other ways to customize your website. For example, you can use Squarespace’s built-in page builder to create unique page layouts. You can also add subdomains to your website, which can be helpful for organizing your website content.
FAQ Section
- Can I combine features from different Squarespace 7.0 templates?
No, each template in version 7.0 has its own unique set of features. You can’t directly combine elements from different templates. However, you can achieve a similar effect by using custom CSS to modify the appearance of certain elements. - What happens if my template preview interferes with logging in or connecting my domain?
If you experience issues with logging in or connecting your domain while previewing a template, it’s best to cancel the preview and revert to your live template. These issues are often temporary and occur due to how previews interact with domain settings. - How many templates can I install on my Squarespace 7.0 site?
You can install an unlimited number of templates on your Squarespace 7.0 site. However, you can only have one instance of each template type installed at a time. - Why are some templates missing when I try to switch?
Certain templates might be missing from your template selection due to various reasons:- Site Language: Squarespace offers a curated selection of templates based on your site’s language setting.
- Discontinued Templates: Some templates might have been discontinued and are no longer available for new installations.
- Can I undo a template switch if I don’t like the new design?
Yes, you can easily revert to a previously installed template in Squarespace 7.0. Your previous template will retain the design and style changes you had made before switching.
Conclusion
By delving into these Squarespace hacks and understanding the nuances of domain management and template functionality, you empower yourself to create a website that truly reflects your vision. Experiment with multiple domains, explore template options (in version 7.0), and dive deep into site style customization to create a truly distinctive online presence. Your Squarespace website is a canvas for your creativity – it’s time to maximize its potential!