The Non-Designer’s Intro to Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1: What’s the difference??
You’re a total newbie in creating your online presence and want to start your website quickly. You choose Squarespace but everyone is talking about whether your Squarespace website is on 7.0 or 7.1. You’re like, “Huh??? There are different versions?? I just need to start and set it up quickly, make it beautiful, user-friendly, and easy to manage!”. Then this writing is for you, you’re not a designer, and you don’t mind DIYing your site but also won’t spend a lot of time trying to dive into the whole web design nitty-gritty. This post is written from your point of view as a customer, not me talking to another designer or developer. Because many things are different in Squarespace 7.1 and 7.0, but do you need to know all the differences?? Well, I don’t think so. I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll keep it simple to what you’ll need to know as a customer, not a designer or web developer.
The basic
Squarespace 7.0, the older version, has been around for quite some time and is known for its robustness and flexibility. Squarespace 7.1 is the latest version, released to simplify the website creation process while providing modern design options. Both versions use the drag-and-drop method and ensure mobile responsiveness.
The main big differences
1.To start with a template or blank canvas
From the customer’s perspective, the main difference between the two versions is the use of templates to start the website creation. It seems that originally, Squarespace started as a template-based website solution where you need to choose the template family that is available to start with and each template has different possibilities and limitations. That means you’ll need to do another research on which template family you’ll need to choose and why and switching templates in the future will be more complex. Meanwhile, on 7.1, you have the option to choose whether to use available templates or to start from a blank canvas. On 7.1, using a template or not is not a problem, because you can modify the pages without having to worry if this will be possible or not with this template.
2. The use of spacer blocks
Spacer block is the feature to add spacing in your design. In Squarespace 7.0, spacer blocks are essential for customizing the spacing and alignment of content. In Squarespace 7.1, the need for spacer blocks is significantly reduced because you can just drag-and-drop you design anywhere inside the section, which makes it more convenient and faster to do.
We think that those are the major and obvious differences that you should be aware of as a non-designer. Additionally, we’ve also included these distinctions for reference:
Which One Should I Use If I’m Brand New To Squarespace?
We highly suggest kicking off with Squarespace 7.1, especially if you're not after ultra-specific features like parallax or secondary navigation. It's more user-friendly for those new to Squarespace, and being the latest version, it's definitely the one we'd lean towards for a smooth start as the Squarespace team must put more focus, efforts and updates into developing the 7.1 rather than the 7.0.
Ready to start your website today without doing it from scratch? Jumpstart your website launch with our templates!
Loving this post? Pin it now to your Pinterest board for easy access later! Simply click the 'Pin' button and keep this handy guide at your fingertips.
