Template Categories and Styles
Choose a Squarespace template category that matches your website’s purpose, content, and visual style.
Explore Template Categories
Choosing a suitable website design becomes easier when you understand template categories and styles. Squarespace provides designs intended for different types of websites and content.
Instead of beginning with a completely blank page, you can explore website concepts based on your goals. Common categories include business, portfolio, blog, commerce, and several other website types.
A category can give you a useful starting point, while the design elements can usually be adapted to create a website that reflects your own brand, content, and preferences.
Read the Complete Squarespace Template GuidePopular Template Categories
Each category is designed around a particular type of website. Understanding the purpose of each category can help you narrow down your choices before customizing your site.
Business
Business-oriented designs are useful for companies, consultants, agencies, service providers, and professional organizations. They often emphasize clear navigation, service information, calls to action, and contact details.
Portfolio
Portfolio designs focus on displaying creative or professional work. They can be suitable for photographers, designers, artists, architects, writers, and freelancers who want their projects to receive visual attention.
Blog
Blog-focused designs are structured around articles and regularly published content. They can help organize posts, categories, images, author information, and other editorial elements in an easy-to-follow format.
Commerce
Commerce-oriented designs are created with online selling in mind. They can provide layouts for products, product descriptions, images, pricing information, and shopping experiences.
Restaurant & Food
Food-related website concepts can emphasize menus, photographs, locations, contact information, reservations, and other details that visitors may need before visiting a restaurant or food business.
Events
Event-focused layouts can be useful for promoting meetings, conferences, workshops, celebrations, and other activities. Important dates, event details, registration information, and announcements can be presented prominently.
Personal
Personal website designs can be used for individuals who want to introduce themselves, share interests, publish content, or create an online presence with a more personal visual identity.
Other Website Concepts
Some websites do not fit neatly into one category. Educational projects, community websites, informational resources, and specialized online services may require a flexible design that can be customized to their specific purpose.
How to Choose a Template Category
The best starting category is usually determined by what you want visitors to accomplish on your website. Consider the following questions:
- What is the main purpose? Decide whether the site is primarily for business, publishing, showcasing work, selling products, or sharing information.
- What type of content will you publish? Think about whether your site will contain articles, images, videos, products, services, or a combination of content types.
- What should visitors notice first? Choose a design that places your most important information where visitors can easily see it.
- Does the visual style match your brand? Look for typography, spacing, image presentation, and page structures that fit the impression you want to create.
- Will the design work as your website grows? Consider whether the structure can accommodate additional pages, articles, products, or projects in the future.
Category vs. Style
A template category describes the general purpose of a website, while a design style describes how the website looks and feels.
For example, two business websites can belong to the same general category while using very different visual styles. One might use a clean minimalist layout, while another could use large photographs, bold typography, and strong visual sections.
This distinction is useful because your website does not have to remain visually identical to the starting design. The template provides a foundation that can be adapted to your content and preferred appearance.
Learn more about website design and related topics through the Science Online homepage and the Squarespace Template guide .
