What's New in Squarespace 7.1 (& Should You Switch to It?)

You may have noticed some buzz around Squarespace recently—there’s a new guy in town!

Squarespace (somewhat quietly) released “7.1” earlier this year, and it’s bringing up quite a few questions, both for current Squarespace users (who are wondering: What’s this all about, and do I need to do something with it?) and for new users, who would like a little more background on what changed, and what that means for their new site.

So, first:

What is Squarespace 7.1?

It’s a new version of Squarespace!

As can be expected, Squarespace makes updates to their platform every now and then, and releases a new version. The “current” version (the one most of us are familiar with and using) is Squarespace 7.0—which has been around for quite some time now.

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Squarespace 7.0 vs 7.1: What’s the difference?

Though they’re both website building platforms concurrently offered by Squarespace, and they’re both accessible via the same pricing tiers, there are a few key differences between the two products:

Templates

In Squarespace 7.0, template selection is actually quite important. Each template comes with specific functionality that impacts what you can (or can’t) do design-wise on your site.

You may have heard me mention the Brine template family (my fave to build on), which I tend to suggest for most of my clients because it allows the use of full-width banner images with text overlay, which creates really nice index pages. Unfortunately, this functionality is not available on all Squarespace 7.0 templates, which means I help with a lot of switching-people-over-to-Brine.

In Squarespace 7.1, however, all templates now have the same underlying structure and functionality, which eliminates the confusion about which templates offer which features—now, they’re all the same.

(“Now” meaning the new 7.1 templates, which are different from existing 7.0 templates. The templates are not transferable across versions.)

Design interface

In Squarespace 7.1, there are a lot of changes to the back-end design interface, which could take some getting used to for anyone used to the old set-up.

There are some improvements here:

Design settings are grouped by fonts, colors, buttons, etc.—which is more intuitive and efficient than grouping by page, like 7.0 does. This means you don’t have to wander around to different pages on your site to access all design settings (for example, in 7.1 you can adjust all button styling from one place—regardless if you have small, medium and large buttons all on the same page).
The ability to set up color themes for use around your site.
No more index pages, as all single pages in 7.1 can stack to create longer, scrolling pages (yay!). This is a simpler and more efficient way to work with section layouts, and it allows for any section to contain a full-width banner image!
More control over the styling of individual page sections.
Built-in Heading 4 (h4) styling, which gives you an additional heading option (also yay!). This helps with both design and SEO (headings are one of the ways you can help search engines better understand—and rank—the the content of your page).

But there are also some drawbacks of the new 7.1 design interface:

No ability to select different fonts for each heading style (though different sizes, they’re all the same font).
Fewer options for customizing mobile design.
No ability to edit your blog post in the “live” editor so you can work with it as it will actually appear (you have to use the small pop-up window—meh!).
No more Developer Mode (an advanced tool for web developers to add additional functionality not native to Squarespace).

Features

Currently, there are quite a few features of Squarespace 7.0 that are not yet available in 7.1.

Though many (if not all) of these features will likely become available eventually as Squarespace continues to develop the new platform and make improvements, it’s important to note what is or is not available in the new version if you were to use it today.

Here are some features of 7.0 that are not currently available in 7.1:

Parallax scrolling on background images (umm… we liked that!)
Gallery blocks to display a gallery of images or videos
Anchor links (allow visitors to jump to a different section on the same page)
The option to include a secondary navigation
Share buttons for visitors to easily share your content to Pinterest, social media, etc.
Header search function (though there’s still a Search block that can be added to any page, no more ability to include a search field in your site’s navigation bar)
Compatibility with the Squarespace app (so you can edit on the go!)

Again, this list will likely change (and I’ll update it as it does!), because Squarespace is working on adding more of these features into 7.1.

But, right now, these are the features you may miss in the new version of the platform.

So, which is better—Squarespace 7.0 or 7.1?

It’s a tough comparison, because they each do something better than the other—so there’s no one “best” option.

The version that’s best for your particular needs depends on which boat you fall into. Here’s what I’d recommend:

If you currently have a Squarespace 7.0 site:

Your best bet is to stay there, for now.

Besides the fact that there’s no way to transfer your 7.0 site over to 7.1—which means you’d need to rebuild the entire thing manually (ouch!)—there’s also not arguably that much benefit to doing so right now.

Squarespace is continuing to update and improve the features of 7.1, so you’re likely better off waiting for the glitches to get ironed out, and for a transfer mechanism to be developed before making that change.

Side note: Squarespace has a lot of sites on 7.0 right now, and they’re clear that they’re still supporting it indefinitely, so no need to worry that 7.0 is “going away” anytime soon.

If you’re building a new site (& you’re familiar with Squarespace):

If you’ve worked with Squarespace 7.0 before and are reasonably familiar with it, might as well start there—it’s a more complete and “polished” product right now, and has more capability for advanced design. And you already know how to use it!

If you’re building a new site (& you’re new to Squarespace):

If you’re completely new to Squarespace, and you’re creating a fairly simple site, 7.1 is probably the most reasonable option to go with—it’ll likely provide what you need, you’ll be learning the platform and interface on the newest version (the wave of the future), and, if you’re not familiar with or attached to the previous functionality offered, you won’t be missing it. 😉

Try them both yourself!

If you’re still wavering between the two options, you can try them both!

Squarespace offers a free 14-day trial for both 7.0 and 7.1—so, if you’d like to take them each for a test drive, you can sign up for a free trial of both and see which you like better:

Free 14-day Squarespace trial →