Loved the original, anyone tried the new version?

Years ago we had a square foot garden and it was fantastic! The books were so helpful in planning out exactly how many vegetables to plant and what to expect at harvest. Huge improvement over standard row gardening.

I have the original book but I've seen an updated version. He insists there that it's 100% necessary to physically mark the squares with string or furring strips. I really don't see the necessity but am wondering if anyone has tried this newer method and could compare results?

I have a plot marked out in the back yard and will be putting in a raised bed garden later this year...or maybe spring... [fingers crossed]

I just started sq ft gardening this year, so I can only speak as a newby.

I planted 17 of the beds using a planting plate (LOVE IT!). Recently I planted a dz Egyptian walking onions. Since I wanted a blank sq between each group I used string to mark the area. It made placement of the sets a snap, but making the area was a pain.