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WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTIONIZED SQUARESPACE COURSE – SPRING 2023!
Unlock the true potential of Squarespace with the Squarespace Box of Tricks Course brought to you by PixelHaze Academy. Hone your website creation skills with our newly added modules and enhanced production quality. Dive into an ocean of creativity and innovation!
Introducing Fluid Engine!
Embark on your journey with our cutting-edge Fluid Engine. Streamline your creativity, explore the freedom of customization, and render your websites with fluid dynamics.
Experience LIVE Projects!
Engage in hands-on projects in real time! Our Live Projects module ensures you learn and experience the essence of website creation with Squarespace.
Discover the Spark Plugin!
Supercharge your website with the brand-new Spark Plugin. From engaging animations to interactivity, let your website capture imaginations and spark interest.
The synergy of Canva & Squarespace!
Experience the powerful combination of Canva and Squarespace! Integrate high-quality graphics seamlessly and let your website radiate aesthetic elegance.
Future Releases on the Horizon!
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Engaging Page-Building Techniques!
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Cutting-edge Squarespace & AI Tools!
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More Exciting Live Projects!
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Deconstructing Squarespace Templates!
Enhanced Production Quality!
We listened to you! We’ve enhanced our production quality by leaps and bounds. Immerse yourself in crystal clear sound with our purpose-built Soundbooth and relish the high-definition video content from our upgraded studio.
Learn from the Master – Elwyn Davies!
Squarespace Authorised Trainer, Elwyn Davies, brings decades of experience to your fingertips! Learn design tips, development techniques, and essential shortcuts to perfect your Squarespace website.
Design, Develop, and Impress!
Step out of the ordinary with our course! Delve into custom codes, professional design practices, and integrate third-party plugins from globally renowned Squarespace developers. Experience the informality and flexibility of one-take videos, mirroring PixelHaze workshops.
An Expanding Library!
The Squarespace Box of Tricks Course will evolve into a comprehensive library, including an array of Squarespace modules. Get insights on the new 7.1 interface, third-party software, and design tips. Stay tuned for 4-5 new lectures every month!
Join the PixelHaze Family!
Embark on this exhilarating journey with the PixelHaze Academy. Catering to beginners and seasoned pros alike, there’s something for everyone. Together, let’s create extraordinary websites.
ENROLL NOW! Your ultimate Squarespace experience awaits!
Thank you for your patience and support.
Best wishes, Elwyn and the PixelHaze Academy team
Introduction
Squarespace Fluid Engine
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2Welcome to the Squarespace Box of Tricks Course by PixelHaze Academy
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3The Beginners Guide to Squarespace in 2022
We are going to hit the rewind button, go back to the very beginning, and look at how we can develop a quick and simple website using the basics within Squarespace. CHAPTER BREAKDOWN: 00:07 Intro - Beginners Guide 01:10 Pick The Right Gear, Why choose Squarespace? 05:00 Let's Get Started 05:20 Choose a Template 07:50 Content area 'WYSIWYG' (What you see is what you get)
GET A 20% DISCOUNT FROM YOUR FIRST ANNUAL/MONTHLY SQUARESPACE PLAN.
Simply follow the steps below:
1. Create a free trial in Squarespace by following the link below:
https://squarespace.syuh.net/pixelhaze
2. When subscribing to your first plan, use our voucher code to get a 20% discount on your first month/year plan: PixelHaze20
ABOUT THIS SQUARESPACE BEGINNER'S GUIDE
For this mini-tutorial, I want to tap into the seven years I have been working with Squarespace, probably creating over 300 websites and somewhere between two and 3000 websites over my 20 years in the web design industry.
Here, I want to show you how you can get the foundations right to ensure that you are not making simple mistakes that could cost you in the long run. We are going to create a new trial website in Squarespace, stripping it right back to the bare bones and then building our page scaffolding to get you up and running and moving along the right lines.
We first need to make sure we're selecting the right equipment for the job at hand. I have used an analogy I like to use regularly, which is your three different models of cars. First up, you have your family hatchback. This is the most reliable and easiest to learn of the three different vehicles. You do not need an advanced licence to be able to get yourself from A to B. And that is where our website builders fit in really nicely. We then move on to our custom-fitted high-performance sports car. It allows a degree of flexibility and you don't need to be an expert racing driver to be able to handle it. But at the same time, there are pitfalls, and there are things that you need to be mindful of when getting behind the wheel. This middle option would be software like WordPress, albeit you can pick a template and keep it very simple.
The moment you start modifying WordPress, it can be more complicated to use. Then we move on to the other end of the spectrum and we have our elite performance, Formula One car. The metaphor here is comparable to how leading agencies will deliver projects, here, you can expect Elite Performance in a very competitive market, but the flipside is paying for that benefit. So let's have a look at option one. Website Builders, these are the simplest, and the difficulty will scale with you. For this example, we are going to use Squarespace, mainly because that is what the course is all about. With Squarespace, there is a huge list of tools for your toolkit, features that allow you to build up your pages with a considerable amount of flexibility. That is a considerable selling point for many of the very good website builders available.
You will find everything under the hood. Where Squarespace will keep control of aspects like the hosting, management of domain names, and lots of other technical requirements like making sure you've got an SSL certificate active, so you have a secure website. This all happens within Squarespace directly and without you needing any sort of technical understanding. Affiliate notice: We have an affiliation with Squarespace and may receive a commission should you purchase a Squarespace plan via the above link.
Live Project - Strand Cafe
FREE SAMPLE - Moonshot: Become a Squarespace Web Designer
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8The Bullet Point Brief - A website for a rural market town cafe
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9Wireframe the homepage
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10Templates, fonts and colour packs in Squarespace
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11Building the homepage layout
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12Refining our website design
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13Rapid content creation
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14Adding content to Squarespace
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15Upload and edit photos
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16Responsive and mobile device web design
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17The Squarespace spruce-up
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18Lift-off!
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19Project timelapse
Design Theory
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20Teaser Trailer - Moonshot
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21How to make money with website builders (like Squarespace)
Here is a full breakdown demonstrating how we have refined our entire workshop process to rapid prototype web design whilst retaining quality.
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22Write a website brief using AI
Welcome to this complimentary chapter from our flagship programme, “Moonshot: Become a Squarespace Designer”. This six-week intensive course, available at Pixelhaze Academy, has been designed to equip you with the professional web design skills I’ve mastered over the years, utilising Squarespace as the critical platform.
This particular chapter could not be more timely, considering the increasing integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across various services, including web design. Here, we’ll delve into how you can leverage AI - a freely available and potent tool - to expedite the briefing process for your website designs. Whether you’re developing your project or working on a client’s, this knowledge will undoubtedly be invaluable.
So let’s dive in and discover how you can combine AI with your web design skills to create impressive and efficient websites.
Planning
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23The PixelHaze Principles of Design
If you are not a professional designer, our PixelHaze Principles of Design are the perfect starting point to understand the basic, but incredibly important building blocks of graphic and web design. If you are a well-seasoned designer, you can skip this chapter, but you might find some of the aspects serve as a helpful refresher.
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24The Chaos Ladder
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25Vector vs Bitmap
A breakdown of the differences between vector and bitmap images, and where to use them.
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26Respect the (12 Column) Grid
Here's a quick chalkboard session outlining how almost all modern websites are built on the 12 column grid and why it is so important for responsive design. We'll also provide you with some tips demonstrating how you can work with the grid within Squarespace.
Getting started in Squarespace
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27Website project checklist
Here are some tips to get you up and running with your Squarespace website. This chapter is from our free Website Blueprint course.
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28Create a Sitemap
We will take you through the process of converting a short set of brief notes to a simple website sitemap.
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29Content Prioritisation
Organise your homepage content and signposts into 3 tiers of priority.
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30Wireframing
Now that we have our quick web design brief, we can now proceed with the wireframe process.
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31Create a Style Guide for Your New Website
This is an optional step, but one we would recommend as it will save you time in the long run. We use Canva (free and available within the browser) to create a simple brand style guide to keep you on track and on-brand throughout the remainder of your project.
Page Building
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32Hyperdrive - Housekeeping 1
No, housekeeping isn’t exciting, but it is necessary! If you've been passed the reins of a Squarespace website after it's been built, then this hyperdrive chapter will be especially useful for you.
In this chapter, we're going to cover:
How we can set up a new website on Squarespace.
Three different methods of accessing your website admin area.
How we can add and remove users in Squarespace.
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33Working from the wireframe
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34Create a new Squarespace website
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35Building the homepage structure
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36Building out from the brand
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37Customising for content
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38An introduction to list blocks
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39Styling list blocks
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40Wrapping up our homepage
Working with Image Blocks
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41Wireframing a key page layout for Squarespace
We are going to tackle the wireframing process using two approaches, the traditional chalkboard and one of my preferred iPad apps, iMockups.
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42Scaffolding key page layouts in Squarespace
Now we have a wireframe to work from, we can proceed with building the page on Squarespace. We will introduce you to some of our tried and trusted techniques, along with one or two new features.
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43An introduction to content blocks
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44Squarespace and the 12-column grid
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45Getting to know the Squarespace text editor
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46Building multiple column layouts
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47Bringing it all together
Working with Summary Blocks
Squarespace List Blocks
Turbocharge your Squarespace designs with Spark Plugin
Combining Squarespace & Canva
Customise and Enhance your Squarespace website
Squarespace Settings & General Features
Hyperdrive Series - Sub 1-minute 'how to' tutorials
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78Adding and editing a cookie banner
A cookie banner is a legal requirement here in the EU, thankfully Squarespace has done the legwork so adding and editing a cookie banner is now a simple process. This chapter will talk you through this process from start to finish.
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79Add and edit Squarespace menu shortcuts
This is a feature that becomes more useful once the website is up and running. Through this very short chapter, we will demonstrate how you can now tag popular areas within the admin to the main menu (visible when you initially log into Squarespace).