Free Squarespace 6 Trials | From Beta to Preview
I was able to start a Squarespace 6 trial today without an invite! Yeah! The signup process is very similar to v5 in that all you need to enter is- your name, email address, and subdomain to create a website. I just happen to be in the process of updating the Squarespace 6 template directory (errr, in all the excitement I’m still “in the process” of updating…so give me a bit to get the new stuff up please!) with the new theme variations and decided I’d go ahead and check out progress of the sign-up page. Lo’ and behold, I was able to create a new Squarespace 6 website. I even tested it out on another browser just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. So get cracking everyone!
(ad links to new squarespace 6 website)
They’ve also made the Squarespace 6 Video Tutorials available. You can check them out below to see how to get started!
Welcome to Squarespace 6
Learn about the basics of building a website with Squarespace 6:
- creating a page
- setting your site name and logo
- adding content
- changing your site’s style
Managing Galleries
This video shows how to manage a gallery of images with Squarespace 6:
- creating a gallery
- uploading images
- arranging and deleting images
- viewing your created gallery
Blogging with Squarespace
Simple enough for a quick stream of videos and robust enough for a demanding company blog.
The Page Builder
Only squarespace come with a completely custom page builder, letting you create complex, grid based page layouts with columns, mixed media, and more.
Holly, I have JUST started with Squarespace, and was going to build my site using v5…..do you think it would be wiser to go ahead and build in v6 instead? is it really ready for folks with no previous knowledge of squarespace to jump in?
What are the advantages or disadvantages of jumping into v6 now?
Hey Gina! Great Question (and probably a different answer for everyone). It really depends on your needs. Right now, SS6 is great for photography and portfolio focused sites as well as folks who have a lot of visitors using mobile technology. I like v5 as a better content management system. I go back and forth on this ALOT. It may also just be me, but the editing, drag and drop functions in v6 is not smooth at all. I’d venture to guess Mac users are having an easier time of it. It also appears that v5 users will be able to create a v6 site and use to their heart’s content until they decide on which works better for them (see this post http://www.squarespaceplugins.com/free-squarespace-6-website/ ) You can create a trial on both for free and kind of test the waters on what works better. The drawback of course being your time. Perhaps start with v5 as there is an import option in v6. I’m not sure if or how well it works the other way around though. (v6 to v5) Check out the different theme options and see what you like better. As of right now, style editing (fonts, colors, etc) are more robust in v5 without having to be a css guru.
Thanks, Holly! v5 it is!!!
Agree – stick with v5.
v6 is still beta and fairly buggy and still missing some key functionality with no clear published dates yet indicating they are still some way off predicting exactly when it will be ready for robust consumption.
I also want to mention that there are issues with v6 rendering in IE. I think it might be ALL versions of internet explorer will “break” the site. It’s nothing new that modern websites aren’t friendly with ie, but if a majority of your visitors are using it, you may really want to consider v5. Squarespace as well as Google Analtyics breaks the stats down for you. Fortunately, less than 1% of SSP visitors are using ie. What a smart bunch of people around here
!!
Hi Holly – I guess you can count me in among others who’ve been living under that rock. SSP6 didn’t seem to be all that friendly to use with either of my HP Envy laptops (14 and 17). Sitting down at a workstation (2 22 inch monitors) and scroll mouse, made for a much better experience.
Even so, I’m writing this on my first Mac in a decade (Macbook Air) which also seems to have less issues with v6.
6 looks lovely and it definitely has some neat bells and whistles. At the same time, I feel even further behind that with v5.
Ah well, …
Sorry to hear about the OJ.
Thanks for all your help,
Eric
It has definitely been an eye opening experience for sure. However, I’d venture to guess your 2 HPs were leaps and bounds ahead of my el cheapos!
It wasn’t until Karl posted the reply on the Developer forum, that I even considered screen resolution as a major issue. I’m truly enjoying this new macbook pro (even though it took me 2 days to figure out how to delete characters in front of the cursor…fn Delete btw) but it’s still a bit disconcerting to recommend and speak so highly of a product where the experience is so drastically different for what I guess is a large majority of users. I don’t know, maybe I’m just in “shock” and user experience differences are the norm and to be expected.
Oh and I might of said OJ, but it was actually grapefruit juice. Quite the sticky situation! Ha!
I haven’t “sat” at a computer in 5 years. (While in Honduras, I crash landed in a zipline accident when a Honduran Manboy decided he didn’t want to “catch” me at the end.) So laptops are the only option. I like to think of it as if I’m in Egyptian times, like Cleopatra ( http://obscurehollow.blogspot.com/2011/12/cleopatra-1934.html ), except I have an electric fan instead of a muscle bound servant with a palm frond. My kids liken it to Jabba the Hut (a much skinnier version I hope) or the grandparents in Willie Wonka.