Fluid Engine: Squarespace’s New Page Editor

Recently, Squarespace launched its new page editor called Fluid Engine. This is the biggest change Squarespace has had to its page editor in 10 years. New design techniques bring about change, and we’re glad that Squarespace is willing to adapt for the modern designer.

This change is taking place on Squarespace 7.1, so if you have a 7.1 site, you’ll see this new editor when you add a new page or section. If you’re on Squarespace 7.0… it’s time for an upgrade! Let us know if you’re ready for a redesign on 7.1.

Click and Drag Editor

There’s way more creative freedom with layouts of sections on pages. Now, you can click and drag to resize blocks. You also can overlap multiple blocks. Fluid Engine works on a grid, and you can customize the grid sizing and spacing to your liking. This is different from the Classic Editor, as in the past, we could only work on a 12-column grid with no customization of grid space. You’d have to add a spacer block to manipulate spacing between blocks and resizing blocks could be difficult. Now, the grid number and spacing can be adapted to your liking (up to 24 columns).

And sometimes, you’ll want a certain block to stand out. You can do this by adding a background to the block. This is included for text and other types of blocks.

Mobile

Fluid Engine gives you the ability to edit mobile view of your site. Those overlapping blocks may not work well for mobile, so you can make adjustments as needed. Easily move blocks with the “Move Up” or “Move Down” options or click and drag to reorder. Also, you can resize blocks and it will not effect the sizing of the blocks on desktop.

Quick Notes and Thoughts

At the time of this blog being published, within Fluid Engine, blocks can’t be moved from one section to another. Also, if you’re working on a blog or a product page, Fluid Engine is not yet available for those types of pages.

If you’re not ready for the change, no worries. You can choose to add a blank section in Classic Editor at the bottom of the add section menu.

Of course, change can be daunting. But, change is good. This is going to allow for much more robust designs within Squarespace, without the use of CSS. We’re excited to incorporate Fluid Engine within our next site builds.