Three New Bite-Sized Morsels

Today, we've got three delicious little treats for you. HTML Snippets, Subscribe to Comments, and a Statistics Redesign. Let's get into it.

HTML Snippets

When users started asking for a Facebook Like/Tweetmeme button we grappled with the idea of how best to incorporate this into the platform. We knew it was important, but didn't want to have to worry about playing catch up (ahem) or distracting from the feel of the platform. So, we decided we'd do you one better. We've created 3 HTML Snippet blocks in your Journal's config for you to put anything you like. Pun intended.

You can add Facebook Like, Tweetmeme, Google Buzz, or anything else your heart desires. Even the brand new Tweet button will work just great*. Drag and drop the blocks anywhere you can drag the other components of your blog post. In order to make these work, we created a variable for you to use when implementing the code. It's pretty simple to do, but you should check out all the technical details in the manual entry on getting these set up. This little delicious morsel is brought to you by none other than Senior Engineer Paolo De Dios.

*The Tweet button currently pulls the current site title. If you're on a home page it will pull the right link, but not the title of the post. Will update soon with a fix. :)

Subscribe To Comments

Now you can subscribe to a page's updates even if you're not a member of the site. This should be a welcome addition for anyone not on a community plan whose users would still like to be notified when a comment is responded to. Now, when you leave a comment you'll have the option to check a box to use the email you provide when leaving the comment to receive notifications on future posts.

Statistics Redesign 

The final nugget is a refinement that replaces the flash statistics charts in the site manager with a new canvas based implementation.  Now your charts are clearer overall, look more appropriate in the backend, load much faster, and load on all devices (iPhone, iPad, etc.).

As always, if you notice any irregularities, guitar solos, or double rainbows, let us know by opening up a ticket in your Website Management > Support Tickets.

M! 

Squarespace for iPhone v1.1

In terms of software, a .1 version bump isn't generally something to get super psyched about, but we're pretty excited about this one, and we think you will be, too. This update is a doozy. But really, beyond full support for iOS 4's background tasks and fast app switching multitasking features, & iPhone 4 Retina Display support, what else could we have possibly fit in there? Well, since you ask:

• Editing Modes. You asked for it, you got it. You now have full control over your editing modes including Text, HTML, Markdown, and Textile. The best part is, the mode selection stays synced to your post once it's been pushed from the app. Open it up in your site, and it'll be in the same editing mode. Change it there, and it'll be changed when you get back to the app.

• Comment Moderation. This has been a very long time coming, but hey, anything worth doing is worth doing well, right? Moderate existing comments, reply to comments, approve comments, mark comments as spam, and email comment authors directly from the app.

• Push Notifications. Yes, this is technically part of comments, but it deserves its own bullet. New comments and/or comments awaiting moderation will now send a push notification to your device. New comments will also pop a pretty badge onto the app's icon if you ignore the push notification.

• Bug Fixes. Had to be mentioned. Photo uploads are back in working order and ready to go. Not to mention, we've optimized it for speed, so you should notice a significant boost.

Alrighty, folks, have at it! It's up and ready for download in the iTunes app store. Users upgrading from a previous version of the app must uninstall the old version before upgrading. As always, if you encounter any bugs, funky/chunky monkeys, monkey wrenches, or other oddities, let us know by opening up a support ticket. Otherwise, enjoy!

M! 

Index Ventures and Accel Partners Invest in Squarespace

[Link:  Funding Announcement Press Release]

It’s with great pleasure that can I formally announce the closing of Squarespace’s first major outside investment in 7 years.  We have completed a $38.5M minority investment from Index Ventures and Accel Partners, who are joining our team, as we continue to move forward in our mission of redefining publishing on the web.

Most of the details of this the transaction can be found in our press release, but I wanted to take a moment to answer some common questions and talk about what this means for the future of the company.

Why did Squarespace raise money?

I believe it is critically important for companies to always reinvent themselves or face extinction.  Squarespace has taken a massive shift once before -- 3 years ago when Dane and Davin joined the team to help build the company we have together today.  That change was ultimately a great success and has allowed Squarespace to mature.

Today, we are making another big change and growing that team again, adding expertise and resources from two spectacular firms as well as insight from Jonathan Klein, the founder and CEO of Getty Images -- all of whom are joining Squarespace’s board to help guide the company.

This investment represents the maturing of our business into its next stage of success.

What will you do with the investment?

This investment -- a growth stage investment on top of an already successful business -- will allow us to more rapidly produce the sort of products we want to make, and focus on getting those products to market.   This investment will support our product, team, and geographical expansion initiatives.

Who is in charge of Squarespace?

This is a minority investment -- the same team that has always managed Squarespace remains in charge.  Squarespace will remain the profitable business it has always been, it will keep its insistence on great design and reliable functional products.  Our investors love the business we’ve built, and join us in continuing to aim even higher.

What will change for Squarespace customers?

Squarespace customers will be the real beneficiaries of this transaction.  We want to grow into the company that can deliver the next stage of our vision -- and I wanted to ensure nothing stood in the way of that.  We are now cleared of all obstacles that stand in the way of us building our next generation platform -- which will emerge over the coming months.

Thank you all for being supporters of Squarespace.  I feel incredibly lucky to be a part of this unique company with such a rich, vibrant community.   We remain committed to the mission of delivering amazing products and will see to it that Squarespace continues to do just that.

Help Kill The Spill

BP's disastrous oil spill has been and still is wreaking havoc in the Gulf of Mexico. We might not be able to sit down with BP and work out a solution, but we can do our part to help clean up their mess. The enormous oil spill is leaving hundreds of animals completely coated in oil, jeopardizing their lives, and even the very existence of some 400 species.

As of 6/14/10, The Daily Green reports that over 127,000 barrels have covered an area over 130 miles long and 70 miles wide. This space includes an average of 25 million birds that frequent the gulf, not including the multitude of species of marine life affected by this spill.

We've teamed up with with three wonderful companies, Metalab, Campaign Monitor, and Woo!Themes to raise money to help clean the animals who have been affected by the spill. Every penny will be donated to the National Wildlife Federation and we four companies will be matching donations up to $35,000. 

If you can't contribute, you can still help by spreading the word. Follow @killspillorg and tweet:

We can clean up BP's mess. Help clean the animals affected by their spill. Donations matched to 35k. @killspillorg http://killspill.org

These animals aren't going to clean themselves. We need to do something to help.

M!

Head In The [Tag] Clouds

It's time for something new! Today, we're rolling out our Tag Cloud Widget. There have been a ton of requests for this one, and we're really happy with how it's turned out. Our very own Jamie Tsao developed it personally, so you know it's good.

You want details? You got 'em:
• Display Count and Style. You have hundreds of tags on your site. Choose to show all of them, or just a few. If you'd rather show them in a list than in a cloud, that's one click away.

• Display Control. Total control over the way your tags are displayed means sorting alphabetically or by frequency, it means control over magnification and opacity of your frequently and not-so-frequently used tags. Toggle tag count display for each tag in your cloud, and hide tags with with a value less than X.

• Style Mode Integration. But, of course, none of that would be any good if you couldn't match it to the look and feel on your site. So, just like our social widgets, the tag called is fully integrated with Style Mode, so you can change fonts, colors, sizes, spacing and more, all without touching a line of code.

As with any new features, if you encounter any issues, bugs, wild boars, parts of your complete breakfast, or other weirdness please let us know by opening up a support ticket.

Otherwise, we're looking forward to seeing these implemented on your sites. Be sure to tweet the link to your pages to @Squarespace so we can see what you've done with them!

Until next time, Happy Squarespacing!

M!

Update on Thursday, July 1, 2010 at 10:39AM by M. Burstiner

Here's the manual entry on adding a tag cloud for your site in case you need any help: http://bit.ly/dChGVR