Wednesday
07Oct2009
E. ReitmanCelebrity Squarespacers
It's fun when we find out that some of our favorite celebrities are using Squarespace for their websites--like actor and comedian Kevin Pollak.
And the hilarious Jamie Kennedy.
Kevin Pollak's site uses a neat Flickr slideshow integration technique on the front page that almost makes it look the TV is changing channels! And Jamie Kennedy's site really pushes the envelope in terms of what's possible with the Squarespace platform.
We think both sites look great--what do you think?
Reader Comments (13)
Hello, Squarespace.
Did your team design Kevin Pollacks site? It seems to have many of the life streaming functions that are set to arrive with the new SS build. What's the story on Pollack's site and the new social networking widgets?
Best,
Ed M.
Loyal Squarespacer
Ed,
Jamie's site was built by Chopping Block a great NY design firm that has made a number of SQ sites. Kevin's site was built by his team, with some help from us. There are a few sites out there that we are testing some features on and are pushing hard to get them into a full release, though we don't quite have any official release dates yet.
I think it's great that you are hosting a lot of celebrity talent but I also think you guys are starting to navel gaze too much on your blog. A more tactful approach would be a "5 Things Celebrity Bloggers Can Do To Create Community" post that references your high profile customers as examples.
Or possibly to give us insight into your progress with new modules and such? The social stuff seems to have fallen off the map and got moved to the bottom of the "coming soon" squares on the front page.
@Ed: I'm not sure either of these sites are using beta social features.
Kevin's site is definitely using a Yahoo Pipes script for the Flickr slideshow, and his tweets look like a standard Twitter script with some CSS styling. I've written a post on this on my site: { link }.
You can this type of CSS styling in action on Kevin Pereira's site { link }. He's just using standard Flickr and Twitter scripts - no beta widgets.
Hope that helps! :)
@squaregirl. Krystyn, I read your post. It's superb. My problem is that I'm a CSS chicken. Is there anyone in the Squarespace community who can walk me through the tutorial? Folks can reach me on Skype at edward.michalik1964. Cheers! Ed
Dear Squarespace:
The Social Integration widgets that you've been promising are "coming soon" are taking longer to arrive than the Second Coming. I'd like to have them in hand before I revamp my sites.
What's up with the delay?
It's wonderful that SS has hooked celebrity clients to join the tribe. But you've got to look after the plebs too. This pleb wants his widgets, and the other goodies you've got in your designers' porfolio.
C'mon, gang: follow-through matters!
Ed
Sadly, as a HUGE SS fan, I too am growing impatient at the lack of progress and visibility on several fronts:
- New templates (would love to a magazine-styled template).
- Deep social networking integration
- Mobile support (journal pushed to iPhone app?).
I'm starting a new gig with a client in November ... recommending a new Internet publishing/social networking platform for their org. I'm sad to say that while SS is bulletproof in so many ways, it is becoming a bit stale... and the feature gap is being to widen (not in SS favor).
I think the vision of the company is spot-on, its people the best, the support second to none, the reliability unquestionable. But I am being to question: are the once avant garde suffering from innovators dilemma? I hope not.
Very much agreed - you guys have been doing a great job at SS and your image and reputation have soared. I think this is just a little reminder from us designers/developers to give us some juicy updates on the things we like to hear about!
Thanks =)
I feel like we aren't getting new features, decent new templates (Usonian's fonts look funny and Periodika is just too big and limiting), and cool things that SQ can do that other blogs don't. I'd also like SQ modules for integrating RSS feeds into pages (in columns), doing content clouds, etc. SQ feels like it is falling behind.
I still love SquareSpace, of course, and wouldn't want to leave. But, there are days when Joomla seems awfully attractive.
Hi there SQ! This is my first blog post (big contrast compared prolic forum postings tee hee!) --- Just want to say that both sites look magnificent. BUT: am a bit partial to Jamie Kennedy only because his dance audition routine I fondly refer to as: "I'M A GAZELLE" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwmzwZOrdzg) -- is probably one of THE funniest spoofs ever. Although... K.Heide may get a chuckle more so than the guys ;)
XO - always.
Ditto on new templates. Something edgy, something retro, something with embedded Flash ... is that possible?
I too absolutely love SS but must ditto all the comments on the staleness. It doesn't matter how much I love the product if it can no longer compete in today's market. We need to keep our websites & blogs relevant in style and rich in features.