Google Sites is a free online service for building and managing Web sites. You choose a name and style for your site and then add Web pages one at a time. You can create your pages using button-and menu-based commands or, if you prefer, by writing HTML. All page creation is done inside your Web browser on the Google servers, so there is no uploading required to publish your site. You can also control the accessibility of your site, making your site visible to the public or to only a select group of users.

Each page on a Google Site has a similar organization. The page includes a header with a title and search box, a sidebar with navigation links, and a body where most of the content lives. You can make adjustments to the layout such as changing the width and height of sections in the site settings.

Web Address

Because Google Sites are hosted on Google's Web servers, your site starts out with a sites.google.com Web address. If you have your own domain name, you can attach it to your Google Site. See the Google Sites help documentation for details. To register a domain name, see Chapter 13.

Title

You choose a title for your Google Site when you first create it. By default, the title appears in text on the top of all of your pages and in the browser title bar. You have the option to replace the title with a banner image, as shown here.

Sidebar

Links to your site pages are organized in a navigation area on the left side of your pages. You can choose which pages you want to list in the sidebar and the order in which they are listed. You can also display other information such as links to recently edited pages. For more information, see "Manage Navigation."

Page Body

You can add text, images, tables, and other HTML content to the main body of your pages. Google Sites gives you an easy-to-use, menu-based interface for changing the size and color of text, inserting images and tables, and more. You can also switch to an HTML interface if you want to make changes to your pages using techniques covered in earlier chapters. See "Edit a Page" for more information.

Search

As you might expect from a Google service, every Google Site includes a search feature at the top of all pages. Viewers can submit keywords to search the pages that you have published.

You can create a Google account to get access to a variety of online services from Google, including Google Sites. Creating an account involves submitting your e-mail address, password, and other basic information. After confirming your account details, you can log in to your new Google account and start using Google Sites. Creating a Google account also allows you to use the Blogger service to create a personal Web blog. Blogger is covered in Chapter 15.

Create a Google Account

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  A good password includes at least eight characters, letters, numbers, and punctuation.

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  If you set your browser home page to Google, a pop-up window may appear asking you to confirm the setting.

  
  

  Your e-mail address is confirmed and Google creates your account.

  

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How do I associate more than one e-mail address with my Google account?

Log in to your account at www.google.com/accounts and then click Edit in the e-mail section of the page that appears. Here, you can add more e-mail addresses to your account.

I forgot my password. How do I log in?

On the log-in page at www.google.com/accounts, click I cannot access my account. Google displays a page that lets you reset your password. The page also helps you if you forgot your user name or if you think someone else is using your account and you want to report it.

Creating a new Google Site involves choosing a name for the site, choosing a public or private setting, and selecting a theme. When you choose a name, Google uses the characters of the name to generate a Web address for the site. The Web address must not conflict with any existing Google sites. If it conflicts, you can either try changing the name or editing the Web address directly. A site theme is a prepackaged combination of layouts, colors, and images that is applied to your pages. Google currently offers 24 themes ranging from subdued to flashy. You can change the theme later on in your site settings.

Set Up a Google Site

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  To create a Google account, see "Create a Google Account."

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  Google signs you in to Google Sites.

  
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  If you have already created a site, this page lists it. You can click Create new site to create a new one.

  

  The Create New Site page appears.

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Google creates your site and displays it. To add Web pages and make other additions, see the other tasks in this chapter.

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How can I add a banner image?

When you first create your site, Google places the text of your site name at the top of every page. You can optionally replace that text with a banner image. Click Site settings and then Change appearance in the menu that opens. On the Appearance page, click change logo to add a banner image.

Can I change the home page for my site?

Your home page is the landing page that the user sees when visiting the site's Web address. To change it, click Site settings and then Other stuff in the menu that opens. Then click Change next to Landing Page.

You can add content to your Google Site by creating a page. A page can include most of the content discussed in the earlier chapters of this book, including text, images, tables, and more. Although Google does not specifically limit the number of pages you can create, it does have a storage limit — 100MB. You can increase this limit by subscribing to a Google Premier account. This chapter discusses creating pages using the regular Web page template in Google Sites. Additional page templates are offered that allow you to display announcements, manage documents, integrate maps, and more. See the Google Sites help documentation for details.

Create a Page

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  Google displays a list of your sites.

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  Google displays the site in a new browser window.

  

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  For details on editing the Home page or other pages, see "Edit a Page."

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  The Create New Page page appears.

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  See "Understanding Google Sites" for a description of the page types.

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  See "Manage Navigation" to control how links to pages appear.

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  Google creates the new page and displays the editor.

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  For more about adding and editing content, see "Edit a Page."

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Google saves the page.

How can I attach other documents to a page?

You can attach documents such as word processing files, spreadsheets, and PDF files to a page using the Attachments feature at the bottom of each page. Click the plus sign (

How do I adjust site colors?

The theme you choose when you set up your site determines what colors appear initially. You can make adjustments by clicking Site settings and then Change appearance. On the page that appears, click Colors and Fonts. You can change the color of site text and backgrounds. You can also add background images.

You can edit a page on your Google Site to add, change, or delete content. Google Sites allows you to edit your content similar to how you would edit it in a word processor. You can change text in an editable text box. You click buttons or select commands from menus to make text bold, create headings and bulleted lists, change the size and color of text, and more. You can insert a table to organize content into rows and columns. You can also switch to an HTML view to make changes not available in the editor commands.

Edit a Page

SELECT A PAGE TO EDIT

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  See "Create a Page" for more about signing in and viewing a site.

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EDIT TEXT

Google displays the editor.

This example shows how to edit a regular Web page.

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  In this example, color is applied to text.

  
  

INSERT A TABLE

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  Google inserts a table.

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How do I align page content?

You can select the page content, such as a paragraph, and click the

How can I create a two-column layout?

In the editor, click Layout and then click Two-column. Google changes the editor to display side-by-side boxes for adding content. You can switch back to a one-column layout by clicking Layout and then One-column. Any content in the right-hand column is moved below the left-hand content.

You can insert links in your pages to connect related content within your site or to give viewers access to pages on external sites. To create a link, you select the content on your page that you want as the link and then choose a destination from a list of existing pages. Alternatively, you can type an external Web address. Another way to offer links to other pages on your site is to display them in the sidebar as navigation. For details, see "Manage Navigation."

Create a Link

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  See "Create a Page" for more about signing in and viewing a site.

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  Google displays the editor.

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  The Create Link dialog box appears.

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  Google displays the pages in your site.

  
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  Google displays a

  
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  Google creates the link and displays editing options.

  
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How do I remove a link?

In the editor, click the linked content. A blue box appears showing the link address and other options. Click Remove to remove the link from the content.

How do I link to a page on an external site?

In the Create Link dialog box, click Web address. In the text box that appears, type or paste the Web address for the external page. Click OK to create the external link.

You can display images in your Google Site pages just as you can in other types of Web pages. When you insert an image in Google Sites, Google first uploads the image from your computer and stores it in a content repository for your site. Then it adds the HTML code that references the uploaded photo. Google offers shortcuts for resizing and aligning your inserted images. These shortcuts appear when you are in the editor and click an image. For more about Web images, see Chapter 5.

Insert an Image

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  For more about opening and editing a page, see "Edit a Page."

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  The Add an Image dialog box appears.

  
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  The Choose File dialog box appears.

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  Google uploads the image and displays it.

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  Google inserts the image on the page.

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How do I resize an inserted image?

In the editor, click the inserted image to display a blue options box. The box includes four size options: S for small, M for medium, L for large, and Original for the actual size of the uploaded image. Click a size option to resize the photo. To resize the image precisely, you can click

How do I align an inserted image?

In the editor, click the inserted image to display a blue options box. The box includes three alignment options: L for left, C for center, and R for right. Click an alignment option to align the photo. You can wrap text around a left-or right-aligned photo by clicking the Wrap on option.

You can make it easy for users to access important pages on your Google Site by placing links to them in the sidebar. The sidebar appears on the right side of all your site pages and can include navigation, a list of recent updates, and more. You can also give users access to different content on your site by putting links in the body of your pages. See "Create a Link" for more information.

Manage Navigation

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  The default view shows navigation and recently updated pages in the sidebar.

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  Google displays the Appearance page with the Site Elements tab selected.

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  The Configure Navigation dialog box appears.

  
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  The Select Page to Add dialog box appears.

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What types of content can I add to the sidebar?

By default, your Google Site displays navigation links and links to recently updated pages in the sidebar. You can also add a text item, a countdown item, and an item that shows your site activity. To add a new item, click Add a sidebar item on the Appearance page.

Can I adjust the layout of the site?

Yes, to some extent. On the Appearance page, click Change site layout. A dialog box appears that lets you hide or display the header and sidebar and adjust the dimensions of different elements. You can also rearrange the order of items in the sidebar by clicking and dragging the title bars of the items up and down.

You can share your Google Site with other users so that they can create and edit pages, change page styles, and perform other tasks. This makes a Google Site useful for managing a project among a dispersed group of people. You can set user permissions to one of three levels — owner, collaborator, or viewer — depending on the amount of access you want a user to have. When you set up new users, Google sends an invitation to the users informing them of their status.

Share Your Site

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  Google displays the Sharing page.

  When you first create a site, you are the Owner.

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  Owners can make major changes to the site, including changing the name and deleting it.

  Collaborators can make lesser changes, including creating, editing, and deleting pages.

  Viewers cannot make changes to the site.

  
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  Google displays a message window.

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Google sends the invitations and lists the invitees on the Sharing page.

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How do I revert a change made to a page?

Google keeps track of every change made to your site so you can roll back a page to an earlier version in the event of a mistake. To revert a change, visit the page you want to roll back and click See earlier versions. Google displays a list of versions of that page. Both owners and collaborators can perform this task.

How do I receive automatic notifications of changes to pages on my site?

After signing in to Google Sites, visit the page for which you want notifications. Click More actions and then Subscribe to page changes. You will receive an e-mail notification when the page is updated by a user.