Squarespace terms, explained simply
A plain-English A-Z glossary of Squarespace terms, features, and concepts — so you always know what we're talking about.
Working with Squarespace introduces a few new words. This glossary explains them all in plain English, in alphabetical order.
Quick summary
Use this page as a reference whenever you come across a Squarespace term you don't recognize. Press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (Mac) to search for a specific word.
A
Account owner The person who created the Squarespace account and is responsible for billing. Only the account owner can transfer ownership of the site.
Alt text A short written description of an image. Alt text is read aloud by screen readers for visually impaired users, and helps search engines understand what an image shows. You should add alt text to every meaningful image on your site.
Analytics Data about how visitors use your site — how many people visit, which pages they view, where they came from. Squarespace has a built-in Analytics section in the dashboard.
B
Background image An image set behind the content in a section, rather than a standalone image block. Background images often serve a decorative or atmosphere-setting purpose.
Badge (plan) A small indicator showing which plan or feature tier applies to a setting. In general usage, badges in documentation are labels showing information like difficulty level.
Block The smallest unit of content in Squarespace. A block is a single piece of content — one text paragraph, one image, one button, etc. Blocks live inside sections. See Sections & blocks explained.
Blog A special page type in Squarespace that contains a collection of posts displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first). Each post is an individual article.
C
Cache (browser cache) A temporary storage of web page files on your device. Sometimes your browser shows you a cached (saved older) version of a page instead of the latest one. A hard refresh clears this.
Checkout page The page where customers enter their payment and shipping details to complete a purchase. Squarespace generates this automatically for Commerce stores.
CNAME record A type of DNS record that points one domain name to another. Squarespace uses CNAME records as part of connecting custom domains.
Code injection An advanced feature that lets developers add custom code to a Squarespace site. Found in Settings > Advanced. Leave this to Chykalophia — incorrect code here can break your site.
Commerce The built-in selling features in Squarespace. Available on Commerce Basic and Commerce Advanced plans. Lets you sell products, manage orders, and accept payments.
Contributor A person who has been given access to edit a Squarespace site without being the account owner. Contributors have roles that control what they can do. See Contributors & permissions.
Cover page A special full-screen page type in Squarespace, often used for "coming soon" pages or eye-catching landing pages. Limited editing options compared to regular pages.
D
Dashboard The main control center for your Squarespace site, also called the Home Menu. It contains links to Pages, Design, Commerce, Marketing, Analytics, and Settings.
Design (menu item) The section of the Squarespace dashboard where you control visual settings — Site Styles, Logo & Title, Favicon, and Custom CSS.
DNS (Domain Name System) The internet's "address book" that translates domain names (like yourbusiness.com) into the technical addresses that computers use. See What is DNS?.
Domain name The web address visitors type to reach your site (e.g., yourbusiness.com). You can register one through Squarespace or connect one from another registrar.
Draft A saved page, post, or product that isn't yet visible to visitors. A draft exists on the platform but is not published.
E
Email Campaigns A paid Squarespace add-on that lets you send marketing emails and newsletters to subscribers. See Squarespace email campaigns (overview).
Excerpt A short summary of a blog post, shown in the blog post list instead of the full content. You write the excerpt in the post settings.
F
Favicon The small icon that appears in browser tabs and bookmarks next to your site's name. Usually a simplified version of your logo. Set in Design > Favicon.
Focal point A setting on background images that tells Squarespace which part of the image is most important, so it stays visible when the image is cropped on different screen sizes.
Folder A navigation item in the Pages panel that groups child pages together, creating a dropdown menu in the navigation. Not a page itself — just a container for pages.
Footer The bottom section of every page on your site. Usually contains contact information, social links, and secondary navigation links.
Form block A type of content block that lets visitors submit information (name, email, message, etc.) to you. See Working with forms.
Fulfillment The process of completing a customer's order — packing, shipping, and marking the order as fulfilled in Squarespace. See Managing orders.
G
Gallery block A block that displays multiple images in a grid, slideshow, or other layout. Useful for portfolios, product photos, and event galleries.
H
Hard refresh Forcing your browser to reload a page from scratch, bypassing the browser cache. On Windows: Ctrl+Shift+R. On Mac: Cmd+Shift+R.
Header The top section of every page on your site. Usually contains your logo, site title, and navigation menu.
Home Menu Another name for the Squarespace dashboard — the main panel you see after logging in and selecting a site.
HTTPS / SSL The secure version of the web that shows a padlock in your browser's address bar. Squarespace includes SSL certificates automatically for all sites.
I
Index page A special page type that combines multiple pages into a single scrolling page. Visitors scroll down through sections that are actually separate pages underneath.
L
Layout How content is arranged on a page or within a section. Squarespace provides layout options when you add new sections.
Logo & Title A settings panel in Design where you upload your logo image and set your site's name and tagline.
M
Main Navigation The area in the Pages panel where pages listed here appear in the top navigation menu of your site.
Marketing (menu item) The section of the Squarespace dashboard that includes Email Campaigns, SEO settings, promotional pop-ups, and social link management.
Meta description A short (140–160 character) description of a page that appears below the page title in Google search results. Set in Page Settings > SEO.
Mobile preview A view in the page editor that shows approximately how your page will look on a phone screen.
N
Navigation menu The set of links at the top (and sometimes footer) of your site that visitors use to move between pages. Controlled through the Pages panel.
Not Linked A section in the Pages panel for pages that exist on your site but don't appear in any navigation menu. Accessible via direct URL only.
P
Page settings Configuration options for an individual page — title, URL slug, SEO details, password protection, and more. Access by clicking the gear icon next to a page name.
Page slug
The last part of a page's URL. For example, in yourbusiness.com/about, the slug is about. Set in Page Settings.
Pages panel The left-side panel in the Squarespace editor where all your pages are listed and organized. The hub for managing your site structure.
Pending (order status) An order that has been placed but payment hasn't been fully confirmed yet.
Plan The subscription tier you're on. Your plan determines which features are available and how much you pay. See Plans & billing explained.
Portfolio page A special page type for displaying creative work. Similar to a blog, but focused on visual galleries.
R
RSS feed An automatic feed of your blog posts that other services and apps can subscribe to. Squarespace generates this automatically for all blog pages.
S
Section A full-width horizontal row on a page. Sections are the building blocks of Squarespace pages — you stack multiple sections to create a complete page layout. See Sections & blocks explained.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) The practice of making your website easier for search engines like Google to find and rank. Squarespace has built-in SEO tools. See SEO settings in Squarespace.
Site Styles The design control panel in Squarespace (Design > Site Styles) where you set fonts, colors, button styles, and spacing for the entire site at once.
SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) A code you assign to a product for inventory tracking purposes. Optional in Squarespace, but useful for stores with many products.
Slug See Page slug above.
Store page A special page type that displays your product catalog. Only available on Commerce plans.
Squarespace 7.0 / 7.1 The two major versions of Squarespace. Version 7.1 (the current version for new sites) has a more flexible section-based editor. Version 7.0 uses older template-specific layouts. The version affects what editing tools and design options are available.
T
Template A pre-designed website layout that sets the starting point for your site's look and feel. In Squarespace 7.1, all templates are part of a unified system and can share the same features.
Thumbnail The small preview image shown in a blog post list or product catalog. Also called the featured image.
Transaction fee A percentage Squarespace takes from each sale on the Business plan. Commerce plans have 0% Squarespace transaction fees (Stripe/PayPal still charge their own processing fees).
U
URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The full web address of a page — for example https://yourbusiness.com/contact. The part after the domain is the slug.
V
Variant A version of a product with different options (e.g., size S, M, L; color Red, Blue). Set up in the product editor.
Version history A record of previous saved states of a page. Lets you restore an earlier version of a page if you made a mistake.
Visibility A setting that controls whether a page or product is visible to visitors. Options are typically Visible (public) or Hidden (not shown).
W
Widget In general web terminology, a small interactive component. Squarespace doesn't use the word "widget" officially — the equivalent concept is a "block."
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