Understanding Squarespace’s Universal Template
One issue a lot of people run into on Squarespace is wanting to pivot to a different template option after they’ve already started building their website and decide it doesn’t fit what they want. That was something you could do on previous iterations of Squarespace, but it's not an option on Squarespace 7.1. This is because Squarespace now only has one universal template rather than a library of templates.
However, if you’ve looked through Squarespace, you’ve probably seen a bunch of templates available for free, and are wondering what these options mean if Squarespace really does only have one template.
In short, the options available on Squarespace that many people define as templates aren’t actually templates at all. Rather, they are all variations of Squarespace’s one template option, their universal template, that serve both as examples of what you can do with the Squarespace template. as well as starting points for your own design efforts.
This might be confusing because Squarespace has a ton of pre-built design options with different styles and some function blocks that aren’t present in the others. However, these aren’t really “templates” so much as they are starting points to design your website, rather than starting the only thing from square one.
They exist so that if you like the overall look and feel of one option, you can use the base design and modify the page contents with your own information rather than building a website from scratch. But these aren’t new templates, rather than variations of the same, universal template that exists on Squarespace 7.1.
The benefit of this approach is that you won’t have to start from scratch the way you would by starting with one template and building your website with that template before ultimately deciding the template is a poor fit, and starting over with a different option.
The good news is that, because each Squarespace website works from the same universal template, you’ll be able to copy over any features into a new design style if you decide to switch to a new one mid-build. With the previous template approach on Squarespace, there were some functions exclusive to some templates.
Every design starting point you choose will have the same features and functions available because they’re all working from the same universal template. However, anyone who has used Squarespace long enough will know this hasn’t always been the case.
With Squarespace 7.0, the platform’s previous version, users used to have actual template options to choose between, each with different code and different functions, each designed for different purposes and types of websites.
One benefit to the old approach to templates vs design starting points is that it was easier to build websites around specific features or functions with a fine-tuned template than it is with a universal template with all of Squarespace’s features built in.
On the other hand, if you know what you’re doing on Squarespace, you should be able to modify the universal template to emphasize the features and layouts you need for your website. And the design flexibility that comes with having one universal template will be worth it for some users.
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