Designing for Mobile & Responsive Design

Learning Objectives

• Understand how Squarespace templates handle mobile responsiveness
• Learn to preview and adjust your site's mobile appearance
• Discover tools and practices to improve mobile site performance

Introduction

Your Squarespace site needs to work perfectly on phones and tablets. Most visitors will view your site on mobile devices, so getting this right matters more than ever. This chapter shows you how to check your site's mobile view and make improvements using Squarespace's built-in tools. You'll see how responsive design works and learn the practical steps to optimise your mobile experience.

Lessons

Understanding Mobile Responsiveness in Squarespace

Squarespace templates automatically adjust your content to fit different screen sizes. This is called responsive design, and it happens without you needing to code anything.

Step 1: Choose any template from Squarespace's current collection – they're all mobile-responsive by default.

Step 2: Add your content normally. Squarespace handles the mobile formatting automatically.

Step 3: Test different content types (text, images, galleries) to see how they adapt.

Here's the bit most people miss: responsive design doesn't mean your site will look identical on every device. It means the layout adjusts to work well on each screen size.

Previewing and Editing Mobile View

You can see exactly how your site looks on mobile devices and make changes in real-time.

Step 1: Open your Squarespace editor and look for the device preview icons at the top.

Step 2: Click the mobile phone icon to switch to mobile view.

Step 3: Navigate through your pages to check how everything displays.

Step 4: Make adjustments directly in mobile view – these changes only affect the mobile layout.

You can hide elements that don't work well on mobile, adjust text sizes, and reorganise sections. The desktop version stays untouched.

Optimising Mobile Loading Speed

Fast loading times are crucial for mobile users. Here's how to improve your site's performance:

Step 1: Use Squarespace's automatic image compression. Upload high-quality images and let Squarespace optimise them.

Step 2: Reduce the number of elements on each page. Fewer elements mean faster loading.

Step 3: Check your site speed using Google PageSpeed Insights or similar tools.

Step 4: Remove or compress large files like videos that slow down mobile loading.

Roll your sleeves up and test your site speed regularly. Mobile users expect pages to load in under three seconds.

Practice

Switch to mobile view in your Squarespace editor right now. Find one element that could work better on mobile – perhaps text that's too small, an image that's awkwardly positioned, or a section that feels cramped. Make the adjustment and preview the change. Notice how the desktop version remains unchanged.

FAQs

How do I check if my site works well on mobile?
Use the mobile preview in your Squarespace editor, then test on actual devices. Check your site on different phone sizes if possible.

Can I make different changes for mobile and desktop views?
Yes, Squarespace allows mobile-specific adjustments. Changes made in mobile view typically don't affect the desktop layout.

Will editing in mobile view mess up my desktop site?
No, mobile adjustments are separate from desktop settings. Your desktop layout stays the same.

Why does my site look different on various phones?
Screen sizes vary between devices. Responsive design adapts to each screen, so some variation is normal and expected.

How can I improve mobile loading speed?
Use compressed images, reduce page elements, and avoid large video files. Test your speed with Google PageSpeed Insights.

Jargon Buster

Responsive Design – A design approach that automatically adjusts your website's layout to work well on any screen size, from phones to desktop computers.

Image Compression – Reducing file sizes of images to make them load faster while keeping acceptable visual quality.

Mobile View – The preview mode in Squarespace that shows how your site appears on mobile devices and allows mobile-specific editing.

Viewport – The visible area of a web page on a user's device screen.

Wrap-up

You now know how to check and improve your site's mobile experience using Squarespace's responsive design tools. Remember to preview your mobile site regularly, especially after adding new content. Mobile optimisation isn't a one-time task – it's an ongoing process that keeps your visitors happy and engaged.

Your next step is to apply these techniques to your own site and test the results on real devices.

Ready to build your Squarespace skills further? Join Pixelhaze Academy for comprehensive courses and ongoing support.