March 2023: Square Space has bought up the once beautiful Weebly editor and is now attempting to make everyone previously on the free Weebly plans now purchase a paid plan just to use the previously free custom domain routing function. So sad (for me). In plainer language: we used to be able to point a domain like ssdirect.com directly to the weebly page in the free offering. From here on out the only free option is to redirect my ssdirect.com domain to their generic weebly page name i.e. ssdirect.weebly.com .. not pretty but it works. Here is the email they sent ..
"This is an official notification from the Weebly account team in regards to the account under this email address.
You currently have a free Weebly website published on a custom domain (or vanity URL) and are not subscribed to a paid Weebly hosting plan. As of 21 March, 2023, sites connected to custom domains are required to have a Weebly hosting service plan to remain published.
What does this mean for you?
To keep your site published on a custom domain, you will need to purchase a paid Weebly service plan subscription. If you take no action and choose to remain on a free Weebly plan, your account information and all associated site content will remain intact and accessible to you within Editor, but your site will be unpublished on 21 March, 2023 and will no longer be visible to visitors or connected to your custom domain. You will need to republish your site on a free Weebly subdomain to make it publicly visible again (e.g.: my-name.weebly.com).Here’s what you can do next:
Note: If you don’t take any action by 21 March, 2023 your site will be unpublished from your custom domain and will no longer be publicly visible online.
- To keep your site published on a custom domain, select and purchase a paid Weebly service plan >
- To keep your site published and remain on the free plan, republish your site to a Weebly subdomain > (click ‘edit’ in your domain settings)
Thank you for your support and understanding. If you have any questions, please contact us by visiting our Help Centre.
The Weebly Team
I do not understand. Firstly, I feel it is unfair to change the rules on me, but hey, that's your business. Secondly, the email is vague and incomplete. It makes no mention of the specific site affected (I have several with Weebly for many of my clients in addition to my own websites). It also provides inaccurate information on how to switch to the new free version (ie there is no 'edit' nor domain settings page in Weebly as implied in the email. It provides no way to contact anyone for clarification .. unless [email protected] gets back to me soon. And that will be that.
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