This is an unusual article for me, because it doesn't contain any running code. I've been using the Squarespace publishing platform for this blog for just over two years and now I've decided to write a small note about the overwhelmingly positive experience I've had with it, just in case somebody is comparing blog providers and would like to hear some of my experiences.
Admittedly, due to the nature of the articles I write, I've got a very narrow focus of the features that are important for generalized blogging. I write relatively infrequently, but when I do, it is usually a more involved text with programming examples. I don't have an intricate layout and don't use many images.
Here are some of features of Squarespace that I've found valuable as just from the perspective of publishing simple articles:
- I like to write in Markdown, which Squarespace supports;
- Extraordinarily diligent, capable and responsive support staff. I've raised six tickets over two years and the average response time I've seen is below ten minutes, and I've posted at a lot of random times of the day and night;
- I haven't noticed any downtime in two years of using the service;
- Very good statistics to tell to you who is visiting the site, how they are referred and what they are searching for;
- A very easy to use browser based UI to design the macro and micro layout of the site. You don't need to fiddle around with your own CSS unless you need something specific;
- A powerful templating system that allows you as much or as little tweaking as you require;
- The templating has obviously been developed by a developer and hence the whole experience scales in clarity;
- They've hired professional designers to produce some neat and useable layouts that you can customize to your heart's content;
On a more subjective note, I personally enjoy using software that has been well constructed. The pleasure I get is being able to see the thought and spit and polish that has gone into the product. As a software engineer, it is plain to see that the Squarespace team have applied intelligence and have taken a lot of pride in producing the site.
Of course there are some features that I'd to see, but I'm not sure how applicable they are for the average member of the target audience. Some of these include:
- Versioning. Since I commit all of my source articles to Github, it would be great to be able to have the CMS read off a Git repository, so I don't have to copy and paste the content to the publishing UI. This could tie in with selectively choosing how to render updates - either as an update section or just as a hint that the article has been revised;
- It would be nice if comments had better threading;
- I don't know why commenters can't get email notifications of updates to comments and the article itself;
- Server side spell checking for when I'm not using TextMate;
Obviously Squarespace has features that are applicable for more advanced publishing setups, but I wanted to list those features that have been useful to me. Everything else you can read from their web site.