Might move site over to SquareSpace 6 (allows for larger pictures)

As long time readers will know, my site is hosted by SquareSpace. When I set the site up it was SquareSpace 4 which then became SquareSpace 5. In the last six months SquareSpace have released v6 but, unlike the change from SquareSpace 4 to SquareSpace 5, the move to SquareSpace 6 is a big change and is NOT automatic.

Because of the big changes (and the hard work) involved in moving from SquareSpace 5 to SquareSpace 6 the poeple at SquareSpace are retaining and maintaining SquareSpace 5. This is so that people like me, who were not sure about upgrading, could stay with SquareSpace 5.

But now I am thinking of changing my mind.

One thing that has always sort of bugged me about SquareSpace, and most of the other easy-to-use Web site hosting products, is that there are tight restrictions on the maximum width of photographs that can be posted. By and large the maximum pixel width of a picture posting is somewhere between 500 and 750 pixels. With my site is it 650 pixels.

With even the most basic PC screen on a desktop or notebook unit now being 1,366 pixels wide that means my ‘full’ width pictures show at less than half the screen width. And on a HD 1920 screen they show at a third of the screen in width.

Sure you can then link to the full sized picture somewhere else but that then means also setting up another account somewhere, and it means that people reading your site need to link over to another site to see the larger picture.

Because of the above I am seriously considering moving my site from SquareSpace 5 over to SquareSpace 6.

Firstly SquareSpace 6 allows for wider pictures to be posted. Just how wide depends on the template you choose, but I should be able to post pictures about 900 pixels wide. Maybe wider.

When it comes to posting and showing pictures SquareSpace 6 does it right. When pictures need to be shown smaller, for whatever reason, they are resampled to the correct size and not simply resized—so pictures stay crystal sharp and do not become fuzzy or jaggy due to resizing.

Also with SquareSpace 6 there is a ‘lightbox’ option. This means people can click on the picture in the posting and the picture will then be shown full size in a ‘lightbox’ without the reader having to link over to another site.

The fourth upside to converting to SquareSpace 6 is that it caters for mobile devices. So when someone accesses my site from a smartphone or tablet then SquareSpace 6 will automatically, on the fly, change the way it shows the site so that it better suits that device.

But, as always, there are downsides. The single biggest downside is that all my existing content and pictures may not transfer over to SquareSpace 6 ‘perfectly’. Text that I made wrap around pictures just the way I wanted is likely to get messy. Pictures are likely to get repositioned. Tables are likely to come unstuck (column made wider or narrower).

Anyway I will have a play with SquareSpace 6 over the next few weeks and see how things work out. I will let you know if I make the final decision to transfer over to SquareSpace 6.