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Squarespace V6 - Breaking down the official announcement
Brandon Davenport
So, this is version 6 of Squarespace and that’s really all we get so far, some screenshots of random photos and small glimpses of the interface, but does that snuff any of the excitement? Nope. Squarespace version 6 is shaping up to be a driving force in re-shaping web development as we know it, and version 6 could be the first sign of Squarespace breaking into the mainstream, and catching the eyes of entities like AOL blogs, Gawker and Okay Geek of course!
Over the next few weeks, Squarespace will begin inviting early testers to experience the next version of the Squarespace platform, Version 6. This project is the culmination of eight years of learning about user interface, content management, scalability, front-end engineering, and, most importantly, the ambitions and needs of our customers — Anthony Casalena
What does it look like?
Behind the scenes, Squarespace’s core has been rewritten so our staff developers – now with full control over HTML and the use of greatly expanded widget functionality and types — can deliver the templates which will power tomorrow’s web. While our initial release will focus on technologies for consumers, our new template SDK will be released later this year, after we perfect the underlying technologies and methods.
Developers will be able to create sophisticated sites with many display options, have full control over HTML and scripts, all while having full access to Squarespace’s widget and data frameworks. Squarespace V6 will allow for very custom sites that remain highly usable for end users.
Breaking down the screenshots
When you take a peak at the screenshots above, nothing much is really revealed (in terms of the interface, or backend), but when you take a look at the physical structure of the webpages shown, you can easily tell there is going to be a much wider verity of customization options. Also, with the addition of more backend control, I have a feeling developers will be able to build further on the platform and mould it to what they need.
Take image one for instance, you have an image gallery with a layout that preserves each image’s dimensions, but grids them together so they fit like a puzzle.
Also on Screenshot two, it looks like it’s a heavily customized journal where the images are used as a “cover” for each article and accompanied by an icon (video, image, audio or words) and directly to the right of that screenshot it looks like the same journal arranged using a more traditional layout, but with the images aligned to the left.
The third image seems to be the most interesting — it shows a full webpage with what appears to be a side navigation with some default icons relivent to the link’s content contained in the traditional widget layout. This is all cool, but maybe the most interesting part of this screenshot is the layout of the page — one header image with a 3 column layout underneath, and they only sensible (and Squarespacy) way to achieve this is some sort of new drag and drop system (much like the sidebar now) but for the content area.
When will Version 6 be released?
Squarespace is staying on their toes with this one, and it’s as if they could push this out within the next hour, or next 6 months. They are keeping quiet, but CEO Anthony Casalena says that “Like all Squarespace releases, we reserve the right to delay the release until we think it is right. We’d like to have it done yesterday, but creating something of quality takes time.” and if you’re wondering when their deadline is, it looks to be within the next few months, and they’ll be releasing new screenshots along the way.
Depending on how classified the situation is, we will try to show you what we can, but if Squarespace needs to keep this on the down-low we respect that (and they should be doing that). Regardless, we will have an Okay Geek breakdown of everything to do with Version 6 as soon as we can, but until then, send us any info you have!
