What is the difference between Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1?

Squarespace Tips

Jan 8

As many of you already know, we’re huge fans of Squarespace and the fact that it’s constantly evolving, it sure has come a long way since it’s launch back in 2004 and we love advancing our products for our clients with all these new features!

You may have heard already that Squarespace has launched a new platform update called Squarespace 7.1, which is super exciting!

While 0.1 may not seem like a big upgrade, trust us when we say there are some major changes! We’re certain questions may arise as to what the main differences are between Squarespace 7.0 and 7.1 and what the pro’s and con’s are of each platform, so allow us to break it all down for you below!

the pro’s

Although both platforms are equally as awesome, there are quite a few differences worth noting between the two, which may affect your decision making when deciding on the best platform for your website.

the templates
On Squarespace 7.0, there are a wide range of website templates to choose from, all with different underlying functionality. For example, for all of our 7.0 website templates, we use the BRINE template family, as it’s the most flexible to edit and customize.
On Squarespace 7.1, on the contrary, each template all has the same functionality, which makes things really easy overall!
the builder dashboard
A lot has changed from 7.0 to 7.1 when it comes to the Builder Dashboard, but with that, of course, comes pro’s and con’s between the two which we will touch on in our next section.
page builder
A benefit with 7.1 is that we no longer need to have Index pages with multiple separate pages within an Index page. With 7.1, one single page can now be broken down into multiple sections, which for large websites, really helps to keep things organized.
page settings
With 7.1, you do have much more control as to what you can change in each individual page section. 7.0’s design targets website changes more universally, where as 7.1 is a little more specific to each section, which does provide a lot more flexibility.
We love how easy it is to designate a certain height and width to each section!
site styles
Squarespace has made advancements on the Site Style Settings design with the 7.1 launch, as it’s now more organized, rather than 7.0 having one Site Styles page to apply settings to the entire site universally. Although we do see an improvement with the Site Style settings, we still think there is work to be done in this area, as it’s not as easy to navigate as 7.0 and can get a little confusing at times.
One thing we’ve been a big fan of though, is that we’re able to easily switch between font color choices depending on our background color using the “theme sections”, where we’d have to add a bit more custom code to make it happen in 7.0.
portfolio page
This is a neat improvement from 7.0 as portfolio pages are a new feature in Squarespace 7.1. You can now control the way that portfolios are displayed with a bunch of different options for laying out your portfolio gallery on your page too!
Although this can still be achieved in 7.0, the setup is a little more intuitive, organized and flexible in 7.1 vs. 7.0.
animations
While Squarespace 7.0 had the ability to add some fun animation effects to your image blocks, 7.1 has taken that a step further, allowing you to add animations universally throughout your website (and to each block). This gives a really sleek feel to the overall website, as your sections load nicely as your scroll through. And if you’re not a fan of animations, it’s easy to disable with a click of a button.

the con’s

Although there are many pro’s that come with the 7.1 platform, we’ve noticed a few con’s as well. Allow us to elaborate below:

customizations
Squarespace 7.1 takes on more of a “global” approach to their site styles, allowing you to choose one heading font, one paragraph font, and five colors to use throughout your website. This may be limiting for some, as you are no longer able to switch up your font choice for a certain element, like you could in 7.0 (say, an image block title).
As Squarespace 7.1 no longer uses index pages, it has become a bit more difficult to target certain elements and add custom css code, but if you’re comfortable with the default settings, you should be fine.
Parallax Banner Images
Many of our clients have loved the parallax effect (fun scrolling effect for banner images) found in our 7.0 templates, and unfortunately, this design functionality isn’t as easy to achieve in 7.1. We’ve felt this always added a dynamic feel as you scrolled through a website, but 7.1 has brought in more animation capabilities than before to add that extra oomph.
Squarespace 7.1 has added in some fun background effects (below where you upload a background image is image effect, you can play around with a parallax option.
Header Layout
While Squarespace 7.1 offers five amazing header layouts for your desktop view (alongside five layouts for mobile), you had more flexibility in 7.0 to switch up this design. As 7.1 no longer has a “secondary navigation” option, you are limited to only one navigation menu, which may feel limiting. Some of our 7.0 templates worked well with a centered logo and navigation on either side (like Montreal or Cote D’Azur), but this is no longer do-able in 7.1 (womp womp).
No More Index Pages
We’ve already mentioned that it is difficult to target certain sections without index pages and sections to make customizations, but there are a few more things that are a bit tougher in 7.1 without index pages.
While you can duplicate a full page and sections and move around on that specific page, you can no longer duplicate a section and add to a new page, which we have found useful as you recreate new pages.
Without index pages, we no longer have specific url slugs designating each section, so adding in anchor links (links that jump to a specific part of your page) isn’t as easy to do in 7.1 (and actually requires adding in a bit of code).
Squarespace 7.1 has added in a “heart” feature where you can save sections and add them in, allowing you to recreate sections quickly throughout different pages.

faqs

What will happen to my site if I am on Squarespace 7.0? Will it eventually be discontinued?

No stress! Squarespace has assured 7.0 sites aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, and in fact they are continuing to advance the 7.0 platform as well! Millions of sites you see online are built on 7.0!

If you are new to Squarespace, what version would you suggest?

It really comes down to your template preference and overall design style. If you really love the overall look of say the SEOUL website template, for example, then maybe this 7.0 template may be a better choice for you. If you like more animations to appear across your entire site, then perhaps 7.1 would be the right fit for you.

Overall, if you’re starting out for the first time, we recommend 7.1, it’s the most recent version of Squarespace and has a lot of amazing features. If you’ve used 7.0 before and prefer that backend, you can easily stay with that same version and there will be plenty of support for it, even though it isn’t the most current version.

Should you have any questions or need support in deciding, feel free to contact us to help guide you in the right direction.

My current site is on 7.0 and I have a lot of blog posts, what do you suggest I do if I’m looking for an upgrade?

Squarespace unfortunately doesn’t have an “import” method yet, so if you have quite a few blog posts, we recommend sticking with your current website and upgrading the template directly to one of our 7.0 website templates (instead of moving to 7.1). It’s best to contact us as well so we can suggest the best route for you, but you will not be able to move your content over between 7.0 and 7.1 without directly copy and pasting. If you’ve been using 7.0 for a bit, we suggest sticking with the backend you’re most comfortable with!

Will you be upgrading any of your 7.0 templates to 7.1?

At this time, we don’t plan on transitioning our older templates to 7.1, as many of our designs rely on 7.0 functionalities (index pages, parallax, etc). With that, we do plan to continue to develop new website templates with 7.1 moving forward!

Overall, with whichever route you go, we set you up with tutorial videos that go through a lot of detail depending on its corresponding Squarespace platform you decide on, and of course, feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!