how can i shift from Fluid Engine to Classic Editor?

Is there a way to turn off the new fluid engine business? There are a number of issues with it:

- (biggest issue) cannot drag blogs between sections anymore. This was the only way to duplicate a block previously (duplicate a section, then drag the blog from new copy into the original, because we SILL cannot duplicate a block)
- the dragging and resizing is extremely unresponsive, at least in Chrome
- the options to change layout between desktop and mobile aren't great, because they don't apply to everything. For example grid spacing is unified between desktop and mobile, which makes it difficult to make things look good on both

Overall, this feels like a beta version, and can I please turn it off somehow and not be a guinea pig?

Agree. If fluid engine could also be responsive in drag/drop this would work (for example, when it is in mobile view...which should be for pads and phones). But as it stands now, I lost several hours of work because the site is now not visually aligned for mobile devices:(

Additionally, when I edit a page in Fluid Engine, I do not get "Insert points" to add new content into an existing block. This makes layout design extremely difficult!

I'm a longtime Squarespace user, and I'm looking to throw together a quick one-page site for a not-for-profit that I run.

I logged on this morning to make it, and found that... everything has changed? I'm referring, I gather, to "Fluid Engine". I had already been adept at using 7.1, but suddenly lots of stuff looks different, and making anything is hard.

I'm sure that once I get used to it it'll be wonderful blah blah blah... but in the meantime I'd really just like to make a quick new website, and not have to re-teach myself the fundamentals of Squarespace.

Is it possible for me to "turn off" Fluid Engine?

THIS 👆 please please make Fluid Engine optional!! A toggle on/off …there are many features which have the *potential* to be great, but for so many reasons we are begging to give us the option to continue to work on 7.1 as it is. 

Oh my gosh, Fluid Engine is worse than I feared. I ended up biting the bullet and putting a few hours into learning it yesterday, and find out it's incredibly buggy when it comes to how it displays a page on a smart phone.

Example: it's very common for me to put an element (e.g. a social link) at the bottom of a section, only for it to appear (on a phone) at the top of the section. (Does this also appear in the "mobile view" preview? Yes. Can I edit in the "mobile view" preview? No, confusingly.)

Another example: there's a long, empty space in one of the sections (about 1 screen tall) that appears in mobile view. Can I get it out? Nope.

I trust that SS will fix these problems. In the meantime, it'd be nice if I could make a good-looking website using the old SS.

Squarespace employees who might be reading this: you're putting your product at risk. You're gambling with your company.

I tried again yesterday to come to terms with FE, spending several hours trying to (re) create classic and basic SS styles using FE + an open mind, and ended up on the verge of leaving Squarespace -EVERYTHING to do with image blocks is gone; image styles (poster, overlap, etc.) animations, the option to add a caption, just trying to get text and buttons to align properly ... and then do the whole thing again anywhere I want that layout. (And then edit for mobile)

And the mobile rendering? 🤯  Yes, it's nice to eliminate or change a section on mobile view without CSS, but to have to check and edit/redesign the entire site as you go because with FE mobile now renders based on timeline (when you added the sections/blocks!) 
It's all over the place ... 
Who are the people FE was tested on that determined it was faster and more intuitive?? For sure not the general DIY population who are the backbone of SS, and not designers ...

There are advanced designers who are loving the flexibility and can use advanced CSS, HTML and Java to make it work for them, but many of us do not fall into that category. I dare say, the majority of SS users do not.

Maybe Im the only one, but I actually really like the option of spacer blocks. I use them to set up my own even grid, and serve many purposes ...they are a fundamental tool. 
As are image block options ...please give us the OPTION to use FE

This forced "migration" to FE is going to be disastrous for many long time loyal SS customers. 
Are you reading these threads?? 
PLEASE make FE a CHOICE! And keep classic not just for a few months, but forever. Just as you have with 7.0 and 7.1 -proving that it's possible.
 

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The really critical issue for me with FE is that the blue + "insertion points" available in the classic editor are gone in FE. This means there's no way to insert images or other blocks on the same "layer" as text and then to flow the text around them. This seems like a huge oversight, and makes design much, much more difficult. It's a shame, as the regular, classic editor (still usable on blog posts) is fast and intuitive, and it feels like FE is a step back from that. 

I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet, but it all seems to be rolling out VERY quickly. Does it just turn up automatically for some people? I'm pretty happy it hasn't appeared in any of my sites yet, but I would definitely like to try it out.

On 6/21/2022 at 8:09 PM, raestanton said:

I haven't had an opportunity to try it yet, but it all seems to be rolling out VERY quickly. Does it just turn up automatically for some people? I'm pretty happy it hasn't appeared in any of my sites yet, but I would definitely like to try it out.

Yeah it just turns up automatically, and if you're starting things anew, the new stuff is FE

@paul2009 has started a good thread where valid points like these can be added 🙂 

Hello, I find Fluid Engine very confusing, so I'd like to disable it for now. Although I don't see how to do it? 

Circle Members can disable that from Circle Labs page, but how to do it for a regular user? 

Completely agree! I had a client site almost completely finished in the old editor, and now being forced to use Fluid Engine is making the design inconsistent! We need a way to turn it off until we're ready to use it!

So the order on mobile is based on the order you created the block. If you create a new block and even if its on top it will be last on mobile since you made it last. If you accidentally use the first block on the second item you will have to redo the entire page. Either by deleting all blocks and doing it in order or if they all the same blocks move the content to the correct order of blocks created.

Really bad design. Hopefully then can fix it soon.

Site URL: https://www.becatalyst.us/

Hi Nick, when you add a new section, click add, then scroll down to the bottom of the screen of the pop up window and you will see this message.

16 hours ago, TheSquareSpacer said:

Site URL: https://www.becatalyst.us/

Hi Fellow Squarespacers, Any ideas how can i shift from Fluid Engine to Classic Editor? Not very comfortable with Fluid engine atm

TIA

When you add a section > choose this

Here is the answer! I asked SQUARESPACE HELP and they got back to ASAP. 

"To disable Fluid Engine on your site, visit the Settings > Circle Labs panel, check Disable Fluid Engine, then click Save."

Phew. 

Also a longtime user with multiple Squarespace sites. Jumped on here to see if anyone else was struggling with Fluid Engine....

Squarespace has always been intuitive but this is clunky (for this non-web designer, at least). Elements move to unexpected places in Mobile view. It's definitely a step backward for me.

Oh thank heavens! Scroll down to the bottom of the add section sidebar on the left. At the bottom there will be a link (in small grey text) to add a section with Classic Editor! The Fluid engine doesn't handle things very well responsively. On mobile things are not in order and get jumbled up. I think the Fluid Engine looks really great and would be a VERY cool custom section for the few times you really need to do a fancy, layered, dynamic layout like a magazine spread, but it's not good for predictable web design.

I upgraded (in a test luckily!) a few of our pages and secitons and it broke the layout horribly on mobile.

What a shame. One of the best things about Squarespace has always been it's more "rigid" column layout that always created predictably great looking sites/pages on any screen. This seems like things will get far less nice looking.

I know it's new and I'll need time to get used to it, but it feels like I have do A LOT more mental overhead work for planning on how to layout a page.

Please keep this option for Classic sections! Thanks!

Please make the Fluid Engine optional.

I'm ready to launch a site today, doing last minute edits, and fluid engine is forced on the site now. (Yes, I can scroll all the way to the bottom when adding a block and click "Looking for sections built with our Classic Editor?" but it's extra steps and time-consuming. 

I don't have time to read the guide right now and learn how Fluid Engine works. I need to deliver this website and get back to work.

Making new tools like fluid engine optional will allow us to use this tool if we want it, and when we want it.  

thanks.

I just needed to add 2 text fields, and two videos (Vimeo links) to a fresh page. I'd be done in less than a minute usually. 

It took close to 20. Everything I added meant I had to move something again. When I switched to mobile, it had basically randomised the layout. I had to resize the video holders, and reorder EVERY element. 

I was a web designer until 5 years ago. I usually don't struggle to pick things up. I loved, and stayed, with Squarespace as it made it quick and easy to keep updating my website and it I didn't have to worry about too much. It just worked. 

Everyone resists a change, it's natural. But the changes add no benefits for my uses. I'm just worried to change anything now as the mobile view it utterly messed up. I don't need that stress. And it will be a deal breaker, I'd rather just host my own WP and feel at home again.

I hate HATE FE. Someone said on here most of us are not versed in Java or whatever. I specifically use SS because it is overly structured. If I wanted FE I design on Wordpress or WIX. 

 When I make a new site and I use a template, I now understand how to turn off FE via Circle Labs panel. However, I don't want to make new pages to use the Classic Editor. That defeats the purpose of using the template. How do I turn it off just generally? I also don't want to have to go back to every single site I've ever done and turn off FE so my clients cant undo all of my work. HELP!

SS stop changing stuff that doesn't make any sense. Your product already worked. Let it be or do a survey to everyone on here asking if it is a good idea if you change stuff. This was a very bad idea.

On 7/15/2022 at 7:28 PM, Victorious said:

SS stop changing stuff that doesn't make any sense. Your product already worked. Let it be or do a survey to everyone on here asking if it is a good idea if you change stuff. This was a very bad idea.

The more I try to come to terms with FE the more I am left speechless ...specifically the MESS that is now mobile. One of SS major pluses and selling points has been mobile responsiveness. For the most part, sites could be left as is on mobile, save for a little CSS if we wanted to remove or rearrange a particular block.

Now, EVERY-SINGLE-ITEM has to be arranged, and rearranged ...even something as seemingly inconsequential as deleting one block and adding another renders the entire mobile view rearranged -according to timeline of addition! Not where the block is placed. 

And while it's nice to be able to re-arrange elements on mobile view without CSS, we cannot change ANY content without it also changing on desktop  (making CSS still necessary) (as example; text size, multiple images that look good on desktop but are too cluttered on mobile)

Overall, the mess and STRESS that is mobile/tablet rendering and 2x the design process negates the pluses given us with being able to rearrange blocks. 

It's great to be able to rearrange blocks for mobile, but we shouldn't HAVE to as part of the design process. Couldn't SS incorporate CE mobile responsiveness with the ability to rearrange blocks?

I really cannot fathom how this "mobile first" philosophy now being implemented is considered more intuitive or user friendly.  It certainly does not make for the quality design that CE did.
Mobile view according to timeline of blocks added simply does not make sense.
 

Again, I/we ask ...do not MAKE us move to FE. Make it a set of advanced design options embedded within CE, and CE permanent, thus making 7.1 the best of both worlds and appealing to an even broader audience.

I can grit my teeth and adjust to most of FE, but the mobile mess makes the whole thing a frustrating and unpleasant experience. -As others have said, it also makes a site challenging in terms of accessibility ...shouldn't we be aiming for more rather than less inclusive?