I think males do no weave nets, unless they're juvenile, but I'm also no expert, I just enjoy the occasional spider here and there.

I’m guessing it’s a male?

I'm actually quite curious why you guessed that. You tend to be quite good with your IDs (and your photos are just brilliant), but that seems like a big blunder, no offence.

You can basically assume that if a spider is very plump, thicc, or round, it's a female. It will be true the vast majority of the time.

Males very often just have the role of getting a female pregnant and will just die naturally a short time after mating, so there is little incentive for them to build up a big nutrient reserve. But the females do to develop the eggs.

Also the timing fits perfectly for this one. Araniella displicata will ley it's eggs around the start of July, so any specimen you encounter this time of year will be mature and probably female (since the males already have or about to die). The mature males also look quite different in this species and have very prominent pedipalps.

Anyway, enjoy the infodump :D

I count at least 8 spots

Agree on the ID, it's also the only officially confirmed Araniella sp. in the US with A. proxima only being recorded in Canada so far.

Definitely a female, though. Gravid, too!