Squarespace, a Movable Type alternative?
Mike Rundle (Phark.com) points us towards SquareSpace. Squarespace is a flexible, streamlined way to create and manage a website.
Squarespace lets people focus on what they know best, instead of forcing them to focus on HTML design and layout. Focus on writing your blog entries and publishing your files and pictures instead of worrying about how to design and update your website. Squarespace’s simple and to-the-point management interface allows direct control over your website’s content. Squarespace is easy to learn, yet powerful to use.
If its not a Movable Type alternative, then it’s certainly a TypePad alternative.
Posted on January 26th, 2004 at 11:45 pm and filed under Blogging.
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Mike January 27th, 2004 at 3:01 am (Permalink)
It looks pretty sweet from what I’ve seen so far. Its nice because its really not just a weblog publishing tool, its more of a user-friendly content management system, if ever one was to exist lol.
Chris January 27th, 2004 at 11:54 am (Permalink)
I think I’ll go have a look at the weekend, to see what it’s like.
I’d be interested to see just how easy it is to setup a complete multi-page site, as I know of several people who would either like to have their own site/blog… and that could be an ideal alternative to something they would have to code/design themselves.
Cheers Mike.
Tristan February 1st, 2004 at 3:14 pm (Permalink)
Hi all. As one of squarespace’s biggest proponents (I was one of the individuals who convinced the designer that he should make a marketable product out of a personal site he designed) I just wanted to add my thoughts.
Squarespace lets you set up a multi-page site _very_ easily. That’s what it was designed to do. What you will find somewhat more difficult about squarespace is editing your templates, but keep in mind that this is because your templates now must be stretched across some 10 different page types and therefore must be more extensible. This is not a problem, simply a design challenge for a novice like me ;)
There are many things that squarespace lets you do right now. Blogs, pictures, static html pages, file modules, link modules, discussion boards, amazon catalogs…. There are also things that squarespace doesn’t do yet. Calendar modules with ability to schedule group appointments using the currently implemented permissions system. Effective journal archiving. On and on and on…
My point is that squarespace is and will be for quite some time a work in progress. What the site has right now is a huge base of features and a very strong infrastructure for developing MORE features. I would encourage you to try it out and see what it can do, and then suggest improvements! Since the site is truly in its infancy (public release was 12/26/03) there are expected to be changes and improvements. Input from experienced bloggers such as yourselves is one of the most valuable assets that the creator could have at this point in time.
In closing, look at http://tristan.squarespace.com for a quick example of what the site can do.
Thanks all, look forward to hearing from you.
Tristan
onos. February 3rd, 2004 at 1:47 am (Permalink)
SS r00lez.
ps. omgwtfbbq
Chris February 4th, 2004 at 12:01 am (Permalink)
Hi Tristan…
Just a few questions as I haven’t had chance to sign up and play with SS yet.
Are the pages dynamic or are they static pages like the ones generated by MT?
And is SS a hosted service only?
I feel kind of guilty replying with only a few sentences after your post. :)
Thanks
onos February 4th, 2004 at 3:59 am (Permalink)
SS manages your data. each module serves a different purpose, and if you can figure out how to work that template editor of tony’s (good luck ^_^), you can display the managed data in infinite ways.
ps. I should clarify, I’m a noob, and shouldn’t be allowed to tamper with the template editor. t.t
onos February 5th, 2004 at 12:14 am (Permalink)
ok, so I take back what I said. After spending about 5 hours with the theme editor & not really knowing anything about how squarespace renders things, etc, I was able to come up with this:
http://possiblyken.squarespace.com
which I think is fairly impressive for starting from square 0. This just shows that if you have at least some knowledge of programming/html, you can make Squarespace do pretty much anything. :o
Chris February 5th, 2004 at 12:54 am (Permalink)
Very impressive Onos!
Very impressive indeed!
By the way, I love your bedroom/office/whatever type photo - very swish looking, exactly what I’d do if I had the room & the money for the TV. :D