I keep getting these ideas of things I’d like to see added to Squarespace. Therefore instead of forgetting about them, I’m going to start accumulating them here in this post over time whenever I think of a new idea.
Journal Archive – Category Filter: Somewhat like the Entry Limit filter, I’d like to see a Category Filter that allows you to select a single already defined category (or even multiple categories if possible) of posts to display. For example, for me to create a list of my favorite posts on my sidebar right now, I have to manually do this using a Text/HTML widget. It would be much easier for the list to dynamically update whenever I tag another favorite post instead.
Create/Modify Link – Title: In terms of usability it is often recommended to add title tags to links to let the user know where the link will actually go. Right now I have to use the Edit HTML Source button everytime I want to add in a title tag which I use quite frequently.
Alternative Entry Title Link: This is so huge and adds so much flexibility to the journal system, I don’t know why many current blogging apps have dropped it (as some of the original blogging software like Radio Userland had it). Basically it would be an option in the configuration area of a module to enable an additional Entry Title URL field. Thus if I wanted to create a favorite bookmarks journal that emulated something basically like del.icio.us, I could easily do so. Even more so, the RSS feed would work appropriately as well. Therefore, when someone clicked on the RSS Entry Feed Title, it would take them to the bookmark URL of the site I’m talking about instead of to my entry on my site (which means they’d then have to click the URL again). Why not just use the Links module in Squarespace? Because it doesn’t work in a stream-like journal fashion in that the Links module doesn’t give you an RSS feed or the ability to comment. Instead it works in a very structured hierarchy fashion which is only really effective for a small list of your favorite sites or resources.
Picture Journal: I mean there has to be some reason why millions of people use Flickr daily which is why I’d like to see the Picture Gallery module have the option to work more like a journal stream (or maybe create a different module for it). Right now for me to emulate this, I have to use a Journal module and manually upload my pictures one at a time (and even upload two picture sizes if I want a small thumbnail in the entry excerpt area). Instead it would be awesome just to upload bunch of photos and all of them be created as separate entries (either published or unpublished with the category of your choice). Why not just use the Picture Gallery? Again because the Picture Gallery module doesn’t allow you to have an RSS feed and it doesn’t allow people (i.e. friends and family) to comment on each photo.
Amazon Item Journal: Pretty much the same thing as the Picture Journal recommendation above but for Amazon items. Therefore you get the nice integrated interface that Amazon Item module has now but instead it works in a journal stream format, so people could stay on top of your book reviews via RSS feeds, as well as comment on them as well.
NOTE: You’ll note that with the last few recommendations, you almost reach a point where the question is do you create these as separate modules or do you give the default journal module the ability to add different types of content. I’m not 100% sure on this either but with some testing it probably could be determined which is the better approach. For example, Vox takes an approach where your entire site is like one big journal and the content types (i.e. blog entry, book, music, picture, etc) are like special category streams defined within it.
2 replies on “Squarespace Wish List”
All great features. The biggest one for me would be an easier way to turn on and off navigation sections depending on the parent page you are on. This really helps with managing large sites that have lots of sub navs. Oh yeah, and maybe some dynamic text scripts ala sifr or swfr…
> The biggest one for me would be an easier way to turn on and off navigation sections depending on the parent page you are on. <
Hey Tyler. I believe that’s in the works. I remember Anthony mentioning something about Squarespace version 4 being a new foundation for a lot of new things. Be nice to see that before the end of the year but he really didn’t mention a timeframe.