Building a Squarespace website?

The first question you’re going to have to answer is “which theme will I use?” For many people, that is closely followed by “how do I choose the right Squarespace template?”

One of the advantages of using Squarespace is that you have many themes to choose from. There are the themes available through Squarespace itself, then there are themes from third-party designers, such as SQSP themes.

Squarespace is known for its commitment to beautiful, professional-level designs, so you’re really left with choosing which is the best fit for you. Here’s a rundown on how we would choose:

Download here: Resources for choosing Squarespace themes

Understand Squarespace templates

There is some Squarespace-specific terminology to understand. First, there are two different versions of Squarespace: 7.0 and the newer 7.1. If you are looking to refresh a site built on the 7.0 platform, your template plays a bigger role because it has a fixed set of style parameters that can’t be changed. 

In contrast, if you are on version 7.1, the template you choose is just a starting point. You can customize your site in any way as all 7.1 sites are part of the same template “family” and have the same features and style options.

“Family,” you ask? That’s another Squarespace term. A template family means that templates within a family all have the same underlying structure and functionality. This is particularly important on 7.0 as your limitation is the features and style options in different families. Squarespace offers template comparison charts where you can compare features and look for templates in the same family.

We also love the work done here by I Love Creatives in grouping the templates into families. This gives you a nice visual of how the templates are related.

Check out Squarespace templates by category

You can always start by browsing the themes Squarespace has available by category. To find them, go to their theme page and browse through the categories available at the left-hand side. For example, if you’re a musician, look under musicians and bands; if you’re a photographer, look under photography.

The advantage of searching this way is that Squarespace has already created these themes with precisely the stated job in-mind. The core functions that you’re likely to need are already embedded.

Check out the theme preview and also take a look at what other Squarespace customers have done with the same template.  It’s important to analyze the actual structure of the pages rather than be distracted by the content. The theme controls the structure and that’s what you’ll be getting. This will help to give you an idea of whether the theme will work for you. 

If there’s a downside to choosing a template this way, it’s that you run the risk of looking like everyone else who runs a competing business in your area. If every restaurant in LA clicked on “restaurants”, there’s a high chance they’ll end up looking similar! 

With that said, don’t think you have to stick with a template that has been made for your particular category. As long as the template has the features you need, you can make it work for your site.

Quick tip: if you’re using version 7.0 and looking for something super-versatile, Brine tends to be the top pick. There are a number of templates in the same family and it has the greatest flexibility and functionality. If you’re using 7.1, it doesn’t matter - all functionality is available.

Free download: Get our resources for choosing Squarespace themes here

Know your must-have features

You might already know that you have some very specific, must-have features required for your website. Great! This is a good way to help narrow down what can be an overwhelming number of choices.

In fact, we recommend that you write a list of must-haves first. It helps to not have already fallen in love with a particular template, only to find it doesn’t have that particular feature you really want.

Where should you start? Write down a simple flow of actions you want someone who lands on your website to take. For example, if you are a service business (like a Squarespace website builder), you might want them to go from a home page, to an about page, to a service page that also has a contact form for them to get hold of you. This is a super-simple flow, but some people will want extra features, such as parallax scrolling or a slideshow portfolio.

With your list of preferred features, you can look for a template that matches. I Love Creatives has a cool feature comparison if you scroll down this page; or Using My Head has a more detailed comparison here.

Squarespace template guides

If you’re running on version 7.0 and have chosen a template from Squarespace, then these template guides are for you. This page was last updated for 2020 and has key links to working with templates, making style changes and working with each specific template.

If you’re really stuck on choosing a template, reading through the guide for the template you think you want can help. You can research every little detail before making your final decision!

If you’re on 7.1, every detail can be found here. Note the following key points:

“Version 7.1 doesn't currently support:

• Template switching - To change your site's design, use pre-built pages, customizable page sections, and style themes.

• Album and Gallery Pages - Instead, add Audio Blocks and gallery sections.

• Developer Mode - The Developer Platform is only available in version 7.0.”

You also can’t switch site versions, although you can rebuild a 7.0 site on 7.1. 

Third-party Squarespace themes

What’s a great way to make sure your website doesn’t look just like everyone else’s? Well, there are a couple of ways: 1) you can make customizations (or hire someone to make customizations) to your site or, 2) look for a third-party theme - that’s where we come in at SQSP Themes.

All of our themes are curated to ensure that we uphold the very high standards people have come to expect of any Squarespace theme. They are feature-rich and you will be able to find something for almost any need you have. 

There is also the possibility of adding functionality, via various plugin choices. For example, you might want to add a video lightbox, related posts and products, countdown timers or testimonial sliders. An advantage of plugins is that they’re easy to turn on or off, meaning you can add functionality without a major redesign.

Need to switch templates?

How to switch templates from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.0

How to switch templates from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1

How to switch templates from Squarespace 7.1 to 7.1

Final thoughts

So there are a few things to know about Squarespace before getting into theme choice, particularly whether you are running on 7.0 or 7.1. The difference matters in terms of ensuring you’ll have both the theme AND the function that you want.

Overall, we love Squarespace for its attractive websites and slick designs. If you know the features you need, you can safely pick virtually any theme that meets those features and have a beautiful website.