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Best Squarespace templates for writers in the UK: Top picks for 2020

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We have lined up all of the best Squarespace templates for authors, journalists, and other writers.

BEST MAGAZINE-STYLE TEMPLATE

Rally

Another ultra-flexible Brine template, Rally makes it remarkably easy to design a modern digital publication with a strong visual hierarchy.

If you’re a writer, what kind of website do you need? The answer depends a little on what kind of writer you are. A book author, for example, needs a very different kind of website than a freelance copywriter. 

That’s why we love Squarespace as a website-building and hosting service for writers: It allows you to build a stunning, personalised website that fits your specific needs relatively easily. You don’t need any coding experience to bring your site to life — all you have to do, really, is use the right Squarespace template.

What kinds of templates does Squarespace offer?

From blogs to memberships to online stores, launch pages, and portfolios, there’s a Squarespace template out there for just about any kind of website.

You’ll encounter two different types of Squarespace templates nowadays: those from Squarespace version 7.0 (which is still offered by the platform and very widely used) and those from the newly updated version 7.1, which came out in early 2020. In Squarespace 7.0, any given template will let you play around with elements like layouts, pages, and navigation, but you’ll get additional customisation tools and style options sprinkled in there depending on the template’s “family.” 

7.0 templates are organised into 22 different families, and all templates within a family share similar design features. For example, templates within the Montauk, Supply, and Flatiron families give you the option of creating stacked gallery layouts, while templates with image carousels are unique to the Forte and Ishimoto families. Squarespace 7.1, meanwhile, merges all templates into a single family with the same underlying structure, style, and features.

It’s super important to do your homework before deciding on a Squarespace template, especially if you’re running version 7.1 — it doesn’t allow you to switch templates once you’ve selected one. (It’s possible to make one template look like another, but you’ll probably have to reset a bunch of settings and delete some or all of your content — there’s no one-click fix.) Version 7.0 is slightly more forgiving in that it allows you to swap designs at any point, but since certain features/parameters are exclusive to different families, it’s still much less of a hassle if you pick the right template to begin with. 

What should I look for in a template? 

Above all, you’ll want to look for a template layout that works for you and your website’s unique purpose; extra details like fonts and colours can be tweaked later on. If you’re a freelance writer looking to find editors to hire you, for instance, you’ll want a good portfolio-style template with contact forms and pages that showcase your best clips. If you’re a published author who wants to stay connected with your readers and fans, think about opting for a one-page, mobile-friendly site where you share your bio and information about upcoming book releases or events. If you’re a journalist interested in publishing long-form reported pieces, meanwhile, you’re probably better off with a highly customisable template that easily integrates multimedia assets.

Relatedly, keep in mind that that you don’t have to go with a photo-heavy template if you’re mostly showcasing written work (although populating your site with stock imagery from sites like Pexels is always an option). Many of Squarespace’s templates are optimised to make large chunks of text look visually appealing, so don’t force slideshow galleries, full-width images, and the like if you don’t need to — with the right design, your work can shine all on its own. 

To make this a little bit easier, we’ve rounded up a list of the best Squarespace templates for writers. All but one of these is from Squarespace 7.0 — version 7.1 is still in development, and at the time of writing, it did not carry over popular features like parallax scrolling and cover pages.

These are the best Squarespace templates for writers in 2021.


Versatile, classic design • Easy navigation

Needs strong imagery to work • Headers aren’t customisable

While not necessarily designed for writers specifically, this popular template can work well for a variety of different kinds of writers’ goals.

Bedford

This versatile template is a writer’s best friend, with the capabilities to be an excellent author page, portfolio, promotional site, blog — or all of the above.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Bedford
Bedford isn’t necessarily the first template you’d think of when designing a writer’s template — it’s usually a favourite for businesses — but it’s actually a very good general-purpose template. 
It features an intuitive layout, a blog, simple navigation and it scrolls nicely. You can include different sidebar content on every page and thanks to its headers, you can easily draw attention to featured posts.
For a writer, the template is customisable enough so that you can use the template to build a portfolio of your work, an author page, or promote your upcoming book launch. It also works well as a longform journalistic template for a reported article.  

Stacking, single-page design • Scrolling • Modern, sleek design • Doesn’t rely on imagery to make an impact

Somewhat limited in customisations

This one-page template is a great choice for published writers looking to market themselves to their readers.

Sofia

This one-page template is a great choice for published writers looking to market themselves to their readers.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Brine
If you’re a published author, you might not need your site to do much but sell you. If that’s what you’re looking for, Sofia is a great choice. 
Thanks to its scrolling, one-page layout, the focus of this layout really is on you, allowing you as the writer to introduce yourself and your work, like an interactive biography. The clean, modern layout also doesn’t require a ton of high-quality photography to look good either — perfect if you’re more of a wordsmith than a photographer. 
It’s also easy to link to your social media accounts and display praise, reviews and testimonials about your work.  

User friendly • Sleek, modern design • Features a blog

Not as flexible as other templates

Avenue is one of Squarespace’s classic portfolio templates for good reason: it’s sleek, elegant and engaging.

Avenue

Avenue is one of Squarespace’s classic portfolio templates for good reason: it’s sleek, elegant and engaging.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Avenue

Avenue is one of Squarespace’s older template designs, but it’s stuck around this long because of its classic, timeless design. 
While it is on the simpler side, the grid layout is perfect for a journalist’s or copywriter’s writing portfolio. It has a clean, easy to use navigation, features large images, and it has a blog with right-side navigation.  


Flexible • Stunning Design • Index page • Parallax Scrolling

No sidebars • Requires strong visuals

A member of the Brine family, Mercer is a versatile template that brings the wow factor.

Mercer

A member of the Brine family, Mercer is a versatile template that brings the wow factor.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Brine
If you’re a long-form journalist who’s been working on an in-depth project, you want a template that helps tell your story. 
With one-page scrolling (and parallax scrolling), Mercer can do that for you. You can create banners and stack blocks of content, including photography, videos or audio clips, in an easy-to-read scrolling layout.
Navigation is simple and the overall feel of the template is clean and sleek.

Category tags • Grid layout • Special navigation arrows • Text focused

Asymmetrical look only works with different sized-images • No ‘feature’ spot for blog posts so all posts look the same

Highly customisable, Tudor is a solid template choice for writers who want a blog to be a prominent part of their site.

Tudor

Highly customisable and nicely designed, Tudor is a solid template choice for writers who want their blog to be a prominent part of their site.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Skye
Tudor is an easily customisable template that puts text first, thanks to its mosaic-style blog layout. It also features loading animations for that extra wow factor. 
This template is particularly good for prolific bloggers that write about multiple topics because posts can be categorised, allowing for visitors to easily find posts on a certain topic. There is also a progress indicator so readers can get a sense of how far along in the post that they are. 
One possible downside, though, is that all blog posts look more or less the same on the blog landing page because there is no “feature” spot to highlight or draw special attention to a particular piece. This is a drawback for writers who want to highlight a new or favourite post. 

Scrolling layout • Simple design • Flexible

Blog landing page is simplistic

For the published author that wants to promote their upcoming book launch or tour, Cruz is a sophisticated template option.

Cruz

For the author who wants to promote their upcoming book launch or tour, Cruz is a sophisticated template option.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.1
  • Template family:
    N/A
For a template that can be both an author page and a promotional site, Cruz is a great option. 
While the template was originally designed with bands in mind, it works equally well for authors looking to sell themselves, their books, and their upcoming book tour/events to their fans. It features a one-page scrolling layout, a stacking index with different colour backgrounds, and easy navigation.
It also allows you to share upcoming events with your audience — a helpful tool if you’re about to head out on the road (or virtual “road”) promoting a newly released book. 

Text-focused • Clean design • Built-in Social icons

If you want the focus to be solely on your words, then this is the template for you because its default blog page features no images at all.

Foundry

If you want to keep the focus solely on your words, this is the template for you.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Skye
Squarespace emerged around the same time the internet was getting much more visual. 
So, most templates on Squarespace rely on at least some good photography for the design to work — but if photography really isn’t your strong suit, or you don’t feel like using a bunch of stock imagery on your blog, then Foundry is the template for you. 
The design is centred around text instead, with a mosaic-style grid of blog posts.  

Parallax scrolling • Flexible navigation • Stacking index pages • Great for ecommerce

Like all Brine templates, Rally is super customisable — but you don’t have to stray far from its default settings to create a professional-looking site.

Rally

Another ultra-flexible Brine template, Rally makes it remarkably easy to design a modern digital publication with a strong visual hierarchy.

  • Squarespace version:
    7.0
  • Template family:
    Brine
In case you haven’t noticed, you really can’t go wrong with anything in the highly customisable Brine family — and if you’re looking for a magazine-style template with an engaging visual hierarchy, Rally is a no-brainer. 
It stars a long, scrolling homepage that alternates between series of small post thumbnails (with headlines and blurbs); banner images for featured posts; and well-placed white space for balance. Its article pages are unique in that their text blocks are very narrow — again with the emphasis on white space — which makes for a modern, minimalist look. 
We can see Rally working best for a blogger who publishes daily or a larger publication with numerous columnists/contributors and sections — it’s an excellent theme for organising and showcasing lots of dynamic content. 

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