A Guide to Squarespace Galleries in 7.1
Those interested in being a Squarespace designer, there is lots to learn. Luckily, most of the information can be easily understood when you take the time to focus on certain skills and slowly build them over time. For instance, Squarespace galleries can be a major part of designing websites. That said, let's look at the multiple options for setting up galleries in Squarespace. This will allow designers to decide which/what will work best while designing web pages.
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Exploring Gallery Options
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One of the first things you need to do is learn about your gallery options. To do so, you will want to:
Create a new page and navigate to the gallery page
Drag it to the main navigation section and click ‘edit.’
After that, you will click ‘add a section’ to unveil the various layers of the gallery.
You will then discover that you can create the gallery as a section or create a blank section and add the gallery to it.
Although these are the basics of exploring your gallery options, you may want to consider doing it in list form. When it comes to lists, they also add valuable features to any website. For instance, if you are designing a website for a portfolio, you could choose to organize the site in layers. In other words, the main page would house one category, while the second layer would house another category, and so on. Either way, this will allow you to create a web space which can allow you to layer up the various categories quickly and easily. The list appears as a gallery and makes it much simpler and easier for web visitors to view any aspect of the portfolio they wish.
1. Gallery Section
As mentioned, the first option for creating a gallery on a Squarespace website is creating the entire gallery section from scratch. To do so, you need to:
On the chosen page, navigate to the gallery. This will reveal lots of options. For instance, you could change their themes and appearance. However, be advised that you cannot change a gallery to a list, and you also cannot change a list to a blank section and change it into a gallery after that.
From there, you will want to add all your photos to the gallery. Each of which, has a place for a description and link. Moreover, these images can also be linked to other content if preferred. You can also customize how they look and feel to ensure they have the preferred aesthetic, and/or change the number of columns and create a slideshow.
You can then choose to focus on the description section, which will allow you to give each section a title and description.
2. Content Section
Next, let’s take a look at the content section. To do so, you should start by clicking ‘edit content.’
This will take you to the following sections:
Elements
Content
Design
For each of these elements, you will have a title. Once the photo has been uploaded, you can change the title or alter it to your liking. For instance, if you make it bold, this can make it more noticeable. Either way, you can look at the elements of content; you can add elements or delete them, reorganize them, etc. Moreover, you can set the page to an infinite scroll, a banner, a slideshow, a carousel, etc.
3. Gallery on a Page
Lastly, if you want to use the ‘add a gallery to a page’ option, you simply click the plus sign anywhere on a page and click ‘gallery.’ Once you do this, you will gain access to the old interface. From there, you can simply drag and drop your chosen images into the section.
Once the images have been uploaded, you can move them around and adjust them as needed. You can add a title or description, as well as a click-through URL, which makes it possible to connect these images to other content. Once you have adjusted all the images to your liking, click ‘save.’ After that, you can go to design.
Designing the Gallery
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When you begin to design the gallery, you have three options. You can do a slideshow, a carousel, or you can do a grid. The type of design you choose depends on both the preferences and the type of content. For instance, a slideshow may be ideal when you are showcasing the pictures themselves. However, if you are posting photos of links that are connected to products, you may opt to use a carousel to allow them to view all items at once.
Either way, you can use any of the design options that allow you to design the gallery in a way that is most conducive to your client’s preferences. Additionally, you can customize the features of each design. For instance, you can set the slideshow to automatically transition from one slide to another. You can also make the thumbnails larger or smaller, decide whether the title or description should be displayed, and more.
Next, you can crop them on your own or allow them to be automatically cropped. If you choose the former, you will need to decide how big you want the photos and thumbnails to be.
Ready to Design Your Squarespace Gallery?
Overall, designing a Squarespace gallery can be simple and fun once you learn the basics. This short guide should be enough to get you started. The design you choose for your gallery should be based on the type of site you are making, the type of content you are posting, as well as your client’s preferences. Either way, the type of gallery you choose can play a significant role in how the website looks and how it functions. Over time, it will become far easier to streamline the process to make it quicker and easier to design galleries for a wide variety of clients.
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