Squarespace is an intuitive website builder that makes creating an effective and appealing online presence simple and accessible. Folders and Index Pages are essential tools that you can utilize to organize content efficiently while improving navigation on your site.
Both elements serve important functions within your design, yet there are subtle distinctions that you should be mindful of when considering either option for your site. This article will detail both elements and how they impact it.
Hidden Pages
Managed Visibility of PagesEinen website administration, controlling visibility is an integral component. Hiding pages from your navigation menu may serve several practical functions; depending on your site needs, hiding pages could serve a variety of useful purposes – for instance if your site features exclusive offers or membership resources then hidden pages can create a sense of exclusivity while controlling access. Alternatively if testing new page designs or layouts prior to rolling them out site-wide then using hidden pages can help gather feedback in a controlled environment.
Hide pages from your navigation menu for maximum SEO benefit. As noted in this Squarespace blog post, hidden pages won’t show up in searches; therefore improving both your site’s rankings in search results and user experience for visitors.
When creating a collection section, using the “Not Linkable” feature to hide it from navigation can make your site’s design appear more professional. Unfortunately, this method will not work with individual pages on your site and therefore, custom CSS codes must be added for each one to take effect.
By adding this code to your page, it will conceal its header on both desktop and mobile devices. Simply replace PAGE-ID with either the page id of your collection or its URL slug if hiding folders is your intention; additionally you can alter “/go-to-this-page-instead” according to your preferences.
By adding this CSS hack to your Squarespace 7.1 header navigation, you can also remove the underline for active links and keep visitors focused on what matters most – whether sales pages, opt-in pages, thank you pages etc. To accomplish this, add this code directly into your stylesheet:
Password Protected Pages
When you want to restrict access to certain pages on your Squarespace website, a password protected page can help limit how many visitors can view your content and is an ideal solution for building email lists or offering exclusive offerings for clients or customers. In addition, this approach does not affect SEO of the website itself.
As part of creating a password protected page, you have several options when it comes to access restrictions: you can limit it only to registered users or anyone with valid login information; as well as display or not display a lock icon next to page titles; whether to use sitewide password or individual user passwords and whether or not show lock icons next to titles of pages accessed; however note that site-wide passwords won’t work on mobile devices and can’t provide access to your admin panel.
Squarespace’s Folders feature allows you to organize navigation items without creating extra pages. Unlike pages, folders do not require password protection or can be duplicated – instead they can be added directly into navigation as non-clickable menu items designed to group other pages or anchors together. In many templates, folders appear as drop-down menu items when hovered over, but collapsible on mobile and expand upon click.
If you want to temporarily exclude one page from your navigation, click “Edit Page” and scroll down until you reach the navigation section. Remove the checkmark next to “Show in Navigation”, this will stop it appearing as part of your main site navigation.
Disabling pages or the entire site is useful when you are creating something new and don’t wish for visitors to access it just yet. Disabled pages won’t be indexed by search engines and won’t appear when searching the web for related pages.
To deactivate a page, navigate to its settings and switch off “Enable Page.” This method can help protect confidential or proprietary information from search engines as well as pages under construction or with temporary content that’s no longer relevant.
Unchecking the “Show in Navigation” Box
If you want to temporarily hide or temporarily disable a folder’s navigation without making it invisible, uncheck the “Show in Navigation” box. This will prevent visitors from seeing it and can be helpful if pages don’t belong in your main navigation. To do this, visit the page that needs editing and click EDIT in the top-right corner. Once inside, go into Nav Bar tab > Show In Navigation option to uncheck.
Utilizing your website’s navigation bar, you can also use a dropdown menu for each category on your site, enabling visitors to easily switch between them without overcrowding the main navigation. This feature is particularly beneficial for websites offering numerous product categories or an extensive collection of blog posts.
To create a dropdown menu on your Squarespace 7.1 website, use this code:
The above code will make your Nav Folder Items clickable across desktop and mobile platforms. To accomplish this, replace the folder’s slug with that of its target page’s slug; if unsure which option is better for you try substituting “/go-here-instead”. Additionally, change its font color from black to reddish brown for optimal results.
Another way to make Nav Folder Items clickable is by creating clickthrough links, which will disable it on mobile but show it on desktop devices. For this task, javaScript’s :nth-of-type() pseudo-selector may help in this regard; be sure to add a short delay so as not to automatically open when hovered over, this feature being especially beneficial when serving users with slower connections or viewing sites from mobile devices.
Adding a Clickthrough Link
An easy way to increase visitor retention on your website and reduce navigation clicks is by including clickable links in folders, allowing visitors to navigate directly to that page without scrolling up for it in navigation. Doing this also serves to maintain their interest longer on your site.
To create clickable links on your Squarespace site, place a Code Block in either the header or footer section and type this code:
Replace “/folder-slug” with the slug of your folder (go to PAGES and locate your folder on the left to find it) and “/go-here-instead” with the URL for the page you wish to link to instead, saving all changes at the end.
if you want to limit who can access your page by clicking on its folders, password protecting it might be the way to do it. Simply activate the “Password Protect” box within your page settings panel to secure it and add one!
As another way of making your website easier for visitors to navigate, adding a fixed navigation bar may make your menu visible as they scroll down the page. To enable this feature, navigate to EDIT SITE HEADER and choose the FIXED POSITION setting in EDIT SITE HEADER.
It’s crucial that when creating a new page, its title is clear and unambiguous for search engines to easily understand it. Avoid vague titles as these could confuse search engines and result in lower listings on results pages; use keywords within your title along with a short description to help search engines understand your page content better.
As well as writing descriptive page titles, limit the amount of characters in your page titles to 50 or less – too many characters could lead to your page being cut off in search engine results and lose relevance.
If you have a lot of information to convey, consider including tables or lists in your webpage to break up and organize it more readable content and make indexing of your page simpler for search engines.
