14: 5 tips for easier editing of a Squarespace website

Nov 2

Ready to take your Squarespace game to the next level? In this episode, you'll learn five time saving tips for editing your Squarespace site like a seasoned pro. Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned Squarespace user, these insider tricks will make editing your website a lot easier.

00:00 When you decide to create a Squarespace website and you're checking out all the templates,
00:03 it's very easy to fall in love with one that looks awesome.
00:06 So you'll pick the template and you'll start editing the content,
00:09 and pretty soon you'll realize how much time it takes to actually make this website uniquely yours.
00:16 So in this episode, I wanted to share five of my favorite time saving editing tips that will make it even easier
00:22 for you to edit your Squarespace website and get that new content launched even faster.
00:28 Welcome to Think Inside the Square, a podcast full of quick tips and tricks
00:32 that will help you create a Squarespace website that you're proud of.
00:35 I'm your host, Becca Harpain, creator of insidethesquare.co, and in this episode,
00:39 you'll learn some of my favorite time saving tips for editing the content of your Squarespace website.
00:44 For a transcript of this episode, along with the links to any resources mentioned, visit insidethesquare.co/podcast
00:52 The term Squarespace is a trademark of Squarespace, Inc. This content is not affiliated with Squarespace, Inc.
01:00 I want to start this episode by sharing two of my favorite text editing tips.
01:04 As a gal with over 300 blog posts, I create a lot of text content on my website, so these timesaving tips make a big difference for me.
01:13 The first text related time saving tip is great for text that you're copying from one program to the next, like notion to Squarespace.
01:22 You can move over the characters by themselves without the formatting.
01:26 It's called pasting as plain text, and the only data that's moved over is the character.
01:32 You won't pull anything extra like heading, styles, highlight colors, or links.
01:37 You can then style the characters using the program itself.
01:40 So how do you do this?
01:42 When you copy content from the original program and you're ready to paste it into Squarespace,
01:47 hold CTRL Shift V on a PC, or Shift Option Command V on a Mac.
01:53 What I want you to do is highlight all the text you want to copy over in whatever program you're in.
01:58 If you're on a Mac, press Command C on your keyboard to copy it.
02:02 And then when you're in Squarespace inside a text editing block, I want you to press Shift Option Command V to paste all
02:10 of the characters, none of the formatting for a PC that's control C to copy it, and control Shift V to paste it.
02:17 Another text related editing tip is the Soft Return.
02:21 If you don't want a full line break, hit Shift Enter on your keyboard for a soft return.
02:26 This is super helpful if you want to add a new line to an area that doesn't allow for a lot of space,
02:31 or if you've added custom code to that text block because it keeps it in the same block.
02:37 I used a Soft Return to put two lines on my announcement bar that are close together,
02:41 only separated by the line height and not a full return.
02:45 Now, if you're working in a blog post and you hit Enter or Return on your keyboard, squarespace is going to separate that text block
02:52 into two blocks of content, which could mess up any custom code that you have being applied to that individual text block.
02:58 But if you use a Soft Return holding down Shift, when you press Enter or Return on your keyboard,
03:03 you'll get a line break, but the text will still be in the same block.
03:07 Again. - that's called a soft return.
03:09 The next editing tip I wanted to share is specifically about fluid engine sections.
03:14 This one is huge for these responsive sites we're building with Squarespace.
03:18 When you align a content block to the edge, it will always stick to the edge no matter what screen size someone is using.
03:26 If you align it to the middle horizontally, it will stay in the middle no matter what screen size someone is using.
03:32 Pretty interesting, right?
03:34 With devices changing so often, this is an important Squarespace specific editing content to know about.
03:40 The next tip I wanted to share is also about fluid engine sections and honestly,
03:44 it's just a little known feature, not necessarily a tip. It's called internal alignment.
03:49 When you're editing a content block, like an image set to fit and not fill,
03:53 you have the option to align it left, right or middle horizontally.
03:57 Another example is an accordion block. There's going to be a little padding in this block.
04:01 If you click on the accordion block, you'll notice right next
04:04 to that little editing icon pencil, you'll see an arrow that points to align.
04:09 You can align this accordion block inside the content to the top, center or middle of the content block.
04:16 That's called internal alignment and it's a feature not a lot of people know about.
04:20 The other thing I want to mention about this feature is that you can change it
04:23 for mobile versus desktop, which I think is really interesting.
04:26 You can have the desktop version aligned to the top where the mobile version is aligned to the bottom.
04:31 Something that can really change the way a layout looks on different devices.
04:35 My final time saving tip is also about devices and it's how blog post
04:39 content or any classic editor content stacks on mobile screens.
04:43 This also applies to additional product details.
04:46 If you have multiple columns of content, like two content blocks side by side, the left will be displayed first on mobile.
04:54 So for example, if you have a video on your blog and then some more details or a description,
04:58 decide what you want people to see first when they look on that page on a mobile device and make sure that is in the left column.
05:07 We just covered a lot, so let's do a quick recap before I call this episode a wrap.
05:12 The first tip that I shared with you was about editing text and it's called Pasting as plain text.
05:18 When you copy characters from one program over to Squarespace,
05:21 and you want to remove all the formatting like headers or links or anything else.
05:25 You just want the characters copy that text in the original program.
05:29 And when you're editing in Squarespace, I want you to press CTRL Shift V if you're on a PC,
05:35 and Shift Option Command V if you're on a Mac.
05:37 You'll get all the characters, none of the formatting.
05:40 The next tip I had for you was the Soft Return.
05:43 If you want to create a line break in a blog post, but you don't want to have two different content blocks,
05:48 what you can do is press Shift Return or Shift Enter on your keyboard,
05:53 and you'll get a Soft return that will keep the content in the same content block but still give you that space.
06:00 My third editing tip was about Fluid Engine sections.
06:03 If you align content to the edge, the top or the bottom, the left or the right,
06:08 that content will stick to that edge no matter what screen size someone is using.
06:12 And if you align it in the middle horizontally, it will stay in the middle of the screen no matter what screen size they're using.
06:19 Tablet, mobile doesn't matter.
06:21 The fourth tip was also about fluid engine sections, and that talked about internal alignment.
06:27 If you click on a content block next to the edit icon, you'll see a little arrow that points to align.
06:33 You can align the internal content here to the top, middle, or bottom,
06:37 and if you're working with an image set to fit or fill, you can align it left, center, or right.
06:42 Those can be adjusted on desktop separately from Mobile, giving you a little bit more flexibility in the layout.
06:48 Now, my final time saving tip was about devices.
06:51If you're working with multiple columns of content in a blog post or additional product details,
06:56 the left column is going to be displayed first on Mobile.
07:00 All right, we covered a lot.
07:01 Thank you so much for listening to this full episode of Think Inside the Square.
07:05 I have a lot more tips and tricks to share with you about making an amazing Squarespace website that's uniquely yours.
07:12 So be sure to subscribe to this podcast wherever you happen to be listening to this episode.
07:16 And if you enjoyed these tips, I would love it if you gave me a review! I'm still pretty new to this podcast game here.
07:21 This is only episode number 14, so I would appreciate it if you'd pop in there and give me a review to make sure other Squarespacers are going to see this content.
07:30 I want to reach as many Squarespacers as I can with all the helpful tips I've got to share.
07:34 Thank you again for listening, and most importantly, have fun with your Squarespace website.
07:39 Bye for now.
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