Squarespace has always supported multiple content publishers and editors per each website on the current version of their web publishing platform. That said, Squarespace support for multiple authors hasn't always been as comprehensive as it could be. Squarespace 6 promises new functionality for blogs and websites with community authorship. Take an exclusive look at how Squarespace has simplified permissions and beefed up support for member profiles.

Streamlined Support for Multiple Editors

Squarespace has always done a decent job of providing multiple levels of permissions and access to a website. According to Brandon Davenport, founder of the popular multi-author tech blog, Okay Geek (and co-host on the unofficial Squarespace podcast, Content, Structure & Style):

"The Squarespace system has been spot on when it comes to managing larger teams of people. You can easily create different “audiences” which contain a set of specific permissions. These could be things like which pages are visible or different editing capabilities for certain authors. You can then assign specific people to an audience and give each person the abilities attached to the assigned audience."

The new interface for creating editors appears to be much more streamlined than what is currently in Squarespace v5. Contributors are created based on the major groups of tasks on your website, not by each grouping individual permissions together one-by-one. 

By the looks of things, Squarespace has been listening to its customers' feedback. Roles created specifically for billing, administration, and even comment moderation will simplify the task of defining permissions for multiple editors on a website.

Creating Rich Member Profiles on Squarespace 6

Squarespace currently supports multiple authors on Squarespace blogs and websites, but customers have been pushing Squarespace to add more social features and profile information. Davenport commented,

"Something that threw us a curve ball was profiles. We really wish we could have a profile page for each of our editors that they would be able to edit and build upon (add bios, photos and social networks)."

Squarespace 6 brings robust new features and controls to highlight editorial staff and provide greater opportunities for their recognition, enagement, and the growth of your blog's community.

Squarespace will now support custom avatars for editors right out-of-the-box. Your authors will also have the ability create a custom profile and attach their social media profiles to their Squarespace profiles. I'm not sure about photos, or how robust the profile pages will be, but the new features will be welcome additions.

Squarespace even seems to be exploring the relationship between authors and location. With the new location tab, authors can share their home base with your audience. It's exciting to see Squarespace push their platform to the limits of how people are using their websites today and into the future.

The social web is about creating greater opportunities for personalization and engagement. The new profile and permissions features contained in Squarespace 6 will provide greater opportunities in these areas for community blog/websites with multiple authors. What features are you hoping to see for Squarespace user profiles in version 6?