Hey friend,
Well, it’s finally arrived. Squarespace’s new layout builder, Fluid Engine, has been fully released this week to all English version Squarespace 7.1 websites.
Instead of the stacked 12-column layout that we currently use within Squarespace, Fluid Engine is a new way to lay out content with a 24-column grid — allowing for overlapping content and a plethora of new design possibilities.
I’ve written an FAQ page, complete with a bunch of videos and pictures, answering the most common questions I’ve been asked. There’s also a video about the top 5 things you need to know.
I also want to acknowledge the general stress this has brought to a lot of you. Fluid Engine definitely has some bugs that are still being worked out, and it’ll require you to re-wire how your mind thinks about building a website in Squarespace. Dealing with changes like this this can be super stressful when you have deadlines to meet, and you haven’t worked learning a new process into your schedule.
So here are some things you can do to combat this stress:
Turn this into a business opportunity. Be proactive and reach out to past clients and let them know about this change, maybe offer virtual training or a website refresh. Talk about the benefits of the new design engine and how it could help their website. This type of communication with past clients is a great way to drum up new business.
Use this as a community-building opportunity. Write some blogs about what you’re learning and help your fellow Squarespace designers get acquainted with Fluid Engine. We all need to support each other and sharing what you know is a great way to do that.
Set a goal. Give yourself 1 month to rebuild a previous website, but only use Fluid Engine. This will speed up your comfort-level and muscle memory (click memory?) with FE.
Ultimately, I really like the direction Squarespace is headed with Fluid Engine. It’s well worth the time investment to learn. And I’m here to help.
If you have questions or need support, post in one of the many Facebook groups, or ask a question in the Circle Forum. And as always, feel free to reach out to me with any questions.
Keep Building,
Will
FAQ’S ON FLUID ENGINE
FAQ’s on Squarespace’s New Fluid Engine
In this article I answer the most common questions I’ve received about Fluid Engine. Specifically:
Should I start building websites with Fluid Engine?
Will Squarespace automatically transition my website to Fluid Engine?
If I change a Section to Fluid, can I change it back?
How can I prevent my clients from accidentally upgrading to Fluid Engine?
What’s the most important thing to know about FE?
Is there a reason to not use Fluid Engine yet?
Can I use Fluid Engine and Classic Editor Interchangeably on the same page?
Will Fluid Engine break my custom code?
TOP 5 FLUID ENGINE NEED-TO-KNOWS
In this shamelessly-clickbait-titled video, I talk about the top 5 things that, once I learned them, helped make building in Fluid Engine much easier. If you’ve been beta testing Fluid Engine for the last few months, you probably know most of these, but I bet there are a few nuggets in here that’ll help you out.
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