Squarespace Site Migration

Squarespace recently released its migration tool to move a version 7.0 Squarespace website to version 7.1. This is really good news for those who have a Squarespace 7.0 site and want to migrate to the latest version of Squarespace. This tool will be really handy for those who have a 7.0 site with a lot of content. Smaller sites with minimal content or sales data are probably better candidates for manual migration to a new version 7.1 site. Sometimes a fresh start is a good option and it certainly has benefits.

There are many articles on the Web explaining how to do this 7.0 to 7.1 migration. I think that the best source of guidance would be the Squarespace Help Center.

Simply search for something like “Squarespace version 7.0 to version 7.1 migration” and find the article “Moving from Squarespace version 7.0 to version 7.1”, but in the future maybe some newer articles on this topic. Now you have the detailed information you need from the people who know the product best. And by all means take the time to look at the whole document, not just the first three or four lines.

Something that jumps out at me as I read this document is the section titled: Differences between version 7.0 and 7.1. What I notice about this section is that it goes on and on and on. There are a lot of differences between versions 7.0 and 7.1. Having dealt with some system conversions in my own work over the years, each of these differences requires some kind of mapping to get from the original system to the new system. Each of these differences represents additional complexity and the potential for bad things to happen. In software systems, complexity tends to grow quickly as additional complicating factors come into play. For the sake of simplicity let's say that each difference introduces a doubling of complexity. All that doubling adds up to a pretty good chance that things might not work the way you expect.

I should probably say, at this point, that I’m not being critical of the solution that Squarespace has provided for moving from version 7.0 to version 7.1. In fact, I think it’s great that they have done the hard work of providing a migration solution. Without a doubt, they have invested many hundreds of hours of development time into this migration tool. What I'm saying is to be very careful using this tool.

For starters, and as the instructions tell you, set time aside to prepare for this migration. This is the sort of thing that deserves your undivided attention. And, you absolutely must duplicate your version 7.0 site before starting the conversion process. You will almost certainly need it later.

Follow the detailed instructions. This conversion updates your live website. If anything should go wrong it’s your public-facing website that will show the results. As far as I know, there’s no magical undo button, no versioning system that you can use to roll back a bad outcome.

I’m focusing on the negative, but I think it’s important to have a plan in place for these less likely but still possible bad outcomes. This is something to give thought to before starting a move from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1. If you are working on a revenue-generating business website, what is management’s tolerance for risk? If it’s zero, then you probably need to have a meeting. Version 7.0 may suddenly be looking like a much better option.

Ok, I’m done being serious. This new tool for site migration from version 7.0 to 7.1 is a blessing, for sure. Many thanks to Squarespace for building it. Just be careful using it. Best of luck!

Sam

Squarespace is a great option for people wanting to create their own website, but the initial learning curve can be a little steep. I know that I struggled with it for a while myself. When you know absolutely nothing about the tools you are using, you are bound to struggle.

To get started with Squarespace a year or so ago, I purchased the book Building Business Websites with Squarespace 7 by Miko Coffey, and I read the first six or seven chapters. This book is great, but unfortunately it's now out of date since Squarespace has moved on to version 7.1.

In all honesty, I don’t recommend buying a book. I also don’t think much of the many online tutorials out there. They are long drawn out serial sequences that take too much time to work through, and the ones I’m aware of also cost money. I can’t recommend paying money to be bored to death. The real problem though is not the money, It’s the time it takes to work your way through the whole drawn out process.

For me, I think it’s much better to just bite the bullet and to dig into Squarespace and figure it out. I have worked for a few years writing computer code. Over time I think I must have learned at least a dozen different programming languages. A time or two I did read the book and go through a formal training process. Most of the time though I just rooted around until I found out enough about the language to understand the basics and dove head first into the creation process. In a perfect world it’s not what you would want, but sometimes reality requires more of us and we have to push on through the learning curve and just get it done.

I suspect that many of the people determined to create their own website using Squarespace are entrepreneurs starting a business of their own. Correct me if I’m wrong, isn’t starting a business a tall order and a hell of a challenge. With so much to do, why not just dig in and get it done.

What I’m going to do with the rest of this article is identify some good starting point resources from the Squarespace Help support area intended for the beginner. Nothing too massive. Just kind of what I think is a good way to build a basic foundation of knowledge about the tools and methods of creating a website with Squarespace. And then I’m going to outline what I think is the way you should learn to use Squarespace to build your first website. This is the way I actually figured out Squarespace myself. I really believe the way to learn Squarespace, and a lot of other things for that matter, is to just do it!

Here are the four links I like right now in January of 2021. Keep in mind that a year from now these may not be great resources.

The first one is the no brainer. It’s the top level page for Squarespace Help. There’s a wealth of information here. One really great thing about Squarespace is that they take the time to document what they build.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us

My next link is to the Getting Started with Squarespace Video Series. I realize many folks like to learn by seeing. That’s what this video series is for. Don’t spend too much time with this. It’s too easy. BTW, if you are building a website on Squarespace in 2021, you are interested in version 7.1 templates.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205809798-Video-Series-Getting-Started-with-Squarespace

The third link and my first recommended reading for the beginner is Getting Around Squarespace in the Getting Started Guide. This section contains some foundational information that you will use over and over going forward.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/212260078

The next link I’m recommending is the Pages and Content Basics section in the Getting Started Help Guide. The information in the Pages and Content section (menu on the left) of the Getting Started Help Guide will help you with tasks in the Pages section of the Squarespace site builder. This is a place where you will be spending a lot of time, so pay attention.

https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206795137

Ok, think of the page links above as homework. After a little bit of studying, you should be ready to dig in and start creating pages using Squarespace. I already said that the way to learn to use Squarespace is to, well, use Squarespace. Here’s the gist of how to do that in just a few sentences.

Create a new Squarespace account. This will take about a minute if you have an email address and a password in mind. You start this process by clicking on the Get Started button in the upper right corner of the Squarespace homepage. https://www.squarespace.com/ If you already have a Squarespace account, you may want to create a second account with a different email address for experimenting.

In the account you just created, pick a template you like and create a new trial site. This will walk you through the process of creating a new site. You can skip all but the first couple questions because this is going to be a learning experiment, not a real website.

Now dig into the Pages area of the site you just created. Change text, add a section, change an image, add a page and rename it and add it to the menu, and on and on. This is your opportunity to figure out how everything works. If you get stuck, go back to the Squarespace Help pages and try to figure out how to get it done.

When you start to get a feel for how the Pages area works, dig into the Design area, and for that matter the rest of the areas in the menu on the left of the website builder.

The beauty of what you are doing is that it’s all zero risk. If you break something, and you probably will, you are not in trouble. If you can’t fix the mistake you make, stop for a minute to understand what you did wrong and to learn from it, then delete that trial site and start over with a new trial. You set out to learn how to use the website builder tools, not to create a real site. The few hours you spend now learning how everything works will pay off in multiples later when you're working on your real website project.

When you start to feel confident in your ability to get things done, move on to your real project. First though, clean up the trials sites you created while experimenting and learning. Better to delete them now rather than later when you might have real websites mixed in that would be a disaster to delete by accident.

Lets recap. You should read up a little bit about Squarespace to establish a foundation of knowledge. Next, create an account for experimentation and learn how everything works. Finally, when you are comfortable that you understand how to use all the tools, go ahead and start on your real website project confident that you know what you are doing.

I hope you find some value in this article and that you will come back and tell us about your future successes using Squarespace. I genuinely wish you the best of luck. I know you can do it. That really is the trick. If you can envision yourself succeeding, you ultimately will.

Sam

I recently created a new website for Ken and Anne Murray at Workhorse Ranch & Olde Tyme Carriage Company. Their existing website, which I had created for them seven years ago, was still working but in need of an update. Over the last several years the focus of their business had also changed, and the old website did not reflect the reality of their current business operations.

I suggested Squarespace as a good home for their new Web presence. Anne was actually already aware of Squarespace and was receptive to that idea. Looking at Squarespace templates, we considered several including: Lusaka, Almara, Clarkson, Bailard, Colima, and Nolan. In the end Clarkson was chosen as the starting point for the new site, and it really did work out quite well. In general, Squarespace templates are built to work for small business websites, and they delivered on this project. The content for the new site worked really well in this template.

I worked with Anne and Ken to produce the page copy for the site and helped select images for the new site from the many photos they had from decades in the horse and carriage business. Their primary business focus, on the new site, was: horse-drawn funeral service, holiday rides in Southlake Town Square, and wedding services with an emphasis on Asian weddings.

Anne wanted a simple website that was focused on their core business areas. I think that she hit on an important point: simple is really critical on a small business website. We worked hard together to craft a clean and simple website that tells the story of their business services and showcased the many images they have from decades in the horse and carriage business.

I had a great time creating this second website for Workhorse Ranch and Olde Tyme Carriage Company owners Ken and Anne Murray. It was very kind of them to trust me to create a second website for them. I believe with a little routine maintenance, this new website will help their business keep growing over the next several years.

https://www.workhorseranch.com/

I recently created a new website for Brazos Carriage Company. They had an existing website that really was not all that old, but they had had some trouble with site performance and wanted something reliable and a little more modern.

We settled on Squarespace because it’s a stable and reliable platform, and then we decided to start with the Moksha template. The logo from their previous website worked well on the new website after just a minor tweak, and the banner image was something they already had. Some of the organization for the homepage actually came from the old site. It was really a pleasant surprise how quickly the site layout came together.  

The Squarespace template was really well organized for this sort of website. Each section of the homepage made a natural funnel to the topical page where the individual service is explained and, in some cases, available for sale.

I had a great time creating this new website for Brazos Carriage Company owner Tracy Pratt. I believe the site will serve their business well for several years. Thank you Tracy for the opportunity to be of service.  

Sam Fenstermacher

On day one I started out with the knowledge gained from reading the first six chapters in the Miko Coffey book Building Business Websites with Squarespace 7, and also having read a bunch of blog posts in the Elle & Company website. Both of these are great resources, by the way.

In spite of all that background research, I still couldn’t figure out how to do much of anything. That seems to be the way it works with technology. There is no avoiding the painful learning curve.

The view from the Site Manager led me to believe that you could change page attributes by interacting directly with the web page. And, to a limited extent, that’s how it works. To make many changes though, you need to use the menu system. From the Site Manager Home menu you need to navigate to the Pages menu and then in the Main Navigation section click on the Gear Icon to activate the Page Settings panel. In this panel I found all the settings I thought would be accessible with Right-clicks or Mouse-overs from the actual web page I was trying to modify.

To be fair, the Miko Coffey book does discuss this fundamental operation. It’s on page 93 after she has been talking about template selection for dozens of pages, and in the context of creating new pages. I have to tell you that I, and I think many other people, would like to kick the tires a little bit and dig into the theme settings before finalizing theme choices.

This may have by now started sounding like a rant. It’s not. It’s more of an observation on how inevitable this sort of thing is with technology. With Squarespace and so many other products like it, the complexities are overlapping. One way or another you are going to get caught up in the web of complexity.

At work recently I’ve been using XSLT to process XML documents. XSLT is a programming language with a formalized syntax. You can study it and read books about it. The language grammar is easy enough to understand. What’s not so easy to master is the semantics of the language. Often, it doesn’t work the way you expect. The semantics aren’t what you anticipated. The program you write is grammatically correct, it just doesn’t do what you wanted it to do.

My day one experience with Squarespace has an element of semantic mismatch. I was thinking it worked one way, when the designers of the system had something different in mind. With software, complexity is multifaceted. When you’re starting out, you are going to struggle. It’s unavoidable. I’ve been through this learning curve thing so many times now that I have come to accept it. Not enjoy it, just accept it. The trick is to shrug it off and move on to day two.

If you move on to day two and day three, you will have made it to a place so many others never get to experience. Persistence pays off. Web design and software development are not for everyone. If you have the patients to stick it out and wait for the lines to connect the dots, for things to come together and make sense, you may find some joy in the end results you product. My advice is to not give up too early. Best of luck.