From Squarespace to a custom site — how and why I made the switch

After several years on Squarespace, I've finally moved cjgwphoto.com to a custom-built site. Squarespace is genuinely good software, but paying a subscription for what is essentially a hobby site never sat quite right with me — especially when I knew from a previous project that a free alternative was within reach.

The new site is custom built and hosted for free, with photos served from cloud storage. The running cost is zero. I edit everything locally and push changes live with a single click from my editor.

Beyond the cost saving, the move gave me full control over how the site looks and behaves. The galleries use a masonry layout that respects each image's natural proportions rather than forcing a uniform crop. The blog is written in plain text files, which makes adding new posts genuinely pleasant. And the whole site supports light and dark mode, following your OS preference automatically.

It took longer than I expected, as these things always do, but I'm happy with where it's landed. If you notice anything broken or behaving strangely, feel free to get in touch.