By Casey Armstrong
Squarespace just released their Developer Platform to the public as an open beta after using it internally for the past year. The most glaring improvement in this new Squarespace 6 from Squarespace 5 is that now developers have complete control of the code from the opening tag to the closing tag. This might not seem like huge news as you have this ability with WordPress, but Squarespace provides a hosted platform solution.
Squarespace is now merging complete code control with server management, as they handle security, scalability, and updates. That aspect of the new Squarespace is definitely one of the most advanced features of the platform.
Squarespace was built on LESS, JSON, and other technologies, and you now can control all of that or any other client-side libraries you use. They also guarantee your scripts are loaded in a single server request by automatically creating “combo” files.
In addition, they are rolling out themes, which seem similar to both Shopify and Tumblr. It will be interesting to see if they open up the ability to create themes to the public as both of those other platforms allows. I know I personally would be very interested.
The Developer Platform is completely free until you are ready to publish so get started!
Have you used Squarespace in the past or plan on using the new Squarespace 6 solution? What are you thoughts on it?