Heels raising on squats is not good. For one once you get to heavier weights it'll throw you way off balance. Secondly the more forward your weight is, the more you'll feel it in the quads, and the more your knees will take a beating.

Now when you say really wide and toes pointed out, how far are we talking? It's possible that you may have really long legs compared to your torso or something that makes it so that your form doesn't look like what the "guys at the gym" would consider good form, and given what he's told you I wouldn't really trust him on that. But if you're so far out because of a mobility issue, it could be damaging to your knees and back long term so you don't wanna keep that up, either! If you could manage to get a video of your squatting it would help in trying to give you pointers.

Off the top of my head it sounds like you have tight hips, hamstrings and ankles, so that's something you might want ot really work on. One of my favorite squat stretch mobility exercise is the golbet squat sit with a heavyish DB or KB up in front. (there's a pic and description in this blog post http://www.travisstoetzel.com/2squattricks/). If you find you can't do that, start working one side at a time with a big lunge and "pushing" your knee out from the inside while keeping your foot flat on the ground.

Always keep the weight on the heels and the outside of the foot when squatting. Until you get the flexibility issue sorted out, you could squat with your feet on 2 5lbs or 2.5lbs plates to try and compensate a bit (but make sure you stay as upright as possible).

I hope that helps!

Can you do box squats? Find something about knee height, put it a bit behind you and try to touch your butt to it without actually sitting on it (it'll help keep the contraction/butt tight).

I have a foot that naturally turns way out and have to consistently check it because my knee complains a lot if I don't! Turns out while a wider stance and toes pointed out was more comfortable and I was stronger at it, but bringing my feet a bit closer in and reducing the angle my toes are pointed at has forced me to really learn to keep everything tight while going down and the posterior chain takes up the work once I hit below parallel and push myself up. Funnily enough, I feel it more when I front squat.

So maybe goblet squats could help you a bit since the counter balance gives you a bit more leeway on pushing your butt back (thus you'll feel it more in the glutes/hammies/PC) and at the same time teach you to keep the whole thing super tight in order to not let your quads do all the work. Another cue that may help you not lean forward is to picture yourself pushing the ground away rather than the bar or your body) up.

I found the old video for everyone's reference:

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Care76/media/videos/video-2013-11-27-20-05-52_zps5f905bfb.mp4.html

Care, do you still squat the same way as in that video or has there been any differences you've seen while working on form in the last 6 months?

I'm also interested in knowing how far out your toes were pointing...I also thought a little out was okay! And I think I even posted that since I thought it was, at least versus your knees going in. My legs are a little knock-kneed so sometimes my form looks more wrong than it should, or I have to do some things a little "wrong" so that my joints do the right thing.

Toes out a bit is perfectly fine, but once you get past 30 degrees out or so you're essentially changing the movement and not really preventing the knees from caving in - it just doesn't look like they are because of the foot placement. It might work for some people, but ideally it's not what you wanna shoot for!

Hmm, based on that video and your descriptions, I would try sumo squats. You need a super wide stance with them, so it basically forces your knees far apart. Also (you may already be doing this) but do a body weight squat, stick your elbows between your knees, and push your knees apart when you're in the bottom of it. Hopefully your feet will start to get used to it and not point out as much.

Front squats your feet are actually supposed to point out more (I think) so maybe give those a shot as well?