You’ve probably seen the commercials for Squarespace on TV by now. Although Squarespace has been around for about 10 years, they’ve only recently (within the last 5 years) become a contender for web development platforms to consider.
But the big question is, should you use Squarespace for your website?
Squarespace is a great solution, for a certain type of client/customer. Squarespace offers an easy to use interface for anybody to use, so you don’t have to be a web developer in order to build a site. You can choose from dozens of pre-made layouts and then customize things like adding content, images, styling fonts, etc. Squarespace is also useful for developers, as this gives us another tool in our belts to offer clients, specifically those who are on a limited budget but still need a decent website.
What are the major drawbacks of using Squarespace?
When a client requests Squarespace, or they express their needs for a website on a minimal budget, we aren’t usually one to object their decision. It is our goal to be able to provide services for many different types of clients with varying budgets. For simple sites that don’t have a lot of complexity and are generally built to display content and images, Squarespace works great.
What it isn’t designed to do, is act as a dynamic platform for hosting information that’s accessible only through a login. In other words, clients who need any type of database development for their site shouldn’t consider Squarespace, as they are very limited in this area.
Another fallback, is that say in 2 years you graduate from a Squarespace to a WordPress site because now you have a larger budget and your business needs advanced development, there is no way to convert your Squarespace site to WordPress, you’re stuck with an entirely new build. On top of that, Squarespace is a platform that is hosted internally, meaning you can never take your site outside the gates. The same goes for Wix, Weebly and other similar builders.
As a premier web development shop, we do most of our work using WordPress, custom coded sites and a few other PHP frameworks, however we are completely comfortable with Squarespace for clients in need. There are plenty of choices to be made when starting a new website, and Thrive is here to help you navigate through the best options!
Until Next Time,
Josh Olswanger
Thrive Web Designs – Your Boise Web Design Co.
