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Migrate from Classic to New Google Sites
Our team of Google Sites experts wrote this Google Sites review based on their practical experience. This review is specially helpful to understand the benefits, drawbacks, limitations and security (sharing and permission) of Google Sites. We hope this Google Sites Review will help you in a better way to make your decision to move on with Google Sites for your public and intranet site.
Last updated: Jan 2015
Pros:
Free, powerful and most secure platform which is hosted on Google servers for creating public websites and private intranet. Simple interface with What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). Lots of gadgets to add which are available by Google Sites and also add your own custom gadget. Saves previous versions of pages. One click integration with other Google products and service like: Drive, Maps, Spreadsheets, Presentations, YouTube, Calendar, Google Plus and more.
Cons:
Limited page layout and design options so customization is not an easy option. Some key HTML tags, external CSS and JS (javascript) files are not allowed to use in HTML editor of Google Sites. iFrame can only use through gadgets. No summary of used space of Google Sites which created under Google Apps.
Bottom Line:
With Google Sites, you can create public website and private intranet more easily and quickly than other the first generation of services (Geocities, for example). Many gadgets offer a lot of content, features and communication tools to give life to you site. Gadgets are easy to use.
Other competitors like Freewebs, Wetpaint and Wix have better interfaces for design and development but not easy and vast like Google Sites.
Teacher Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Websites Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Intranet Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
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Creating Google Sites
Creating Google Sites
With a valid Google account (a stand alone or Google Apps account), you can create website/intranet in Google Sites. No need to register separately for Google Sites.
To create a site, simply press the button to create a site and it takes you to a page that requires just five things. A wizard helps you get started, and there are dozens of templates available such as clubs, corporate intranets, classrooms and families. Write the site name, choose a URL in the site name in a sites.google.com/site/your-site-name (this URL type is for those sites which created using Google stand alone account) and write a short site description (optional) and you are done. You can decide on the time of creating your site or alter it later that whether it is a restrict site or a public site. By default, it make the site public when you create a site using Google stand alone account. This is the most simple way to create websites and even intranet which is not offered in other services like Wix, Freebie, Wetpaint etc.
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Working with Google Sites page
Working with Google Sites page
Google Sites lets you insert images, link, tables, and gadgets like table of content, subpage listing, recent post, files and items and more. You can also add your own custom gadgets in Google Sites. It comes with simple toolbar to edit your page.
With HTML editor in Google Sites, you can play with more customizing of your Google Sites. It does not allow you to use a lot of Web 2.0 content and removed these HTML tags automatically when you update HTML editor. When compare this feature with other website builder like Wetpaint and Freewebs, they give you more flexible control.
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Page Templates and Page Options
Page Templates and Page Options
When you create a site under Google stand alone account, it offers 4 types of default page templates and if a site is created under Google Apps account, it offers 5 types of default page template:
Google standalone account: Web page, Announcements, File Cabinet, and List page. Google Apps account: 4 same as above but in addition with Start Page.
Each page comes with powerful features like page attachments to add file and comments. The comments feature is well designed and useful for intranet sites. You can enable the entire organization in Google Apps to comments even if they are with view rights. This comment feature is better than Wetpaint that requires every page to receive comments and Freewebs, which requires the addition of a widget for comments.
Creating New Pages
Creating New Pages
When you create a page, you write is name which is actually page title. This is very important to write it as perfect match of your page content to improve SEO of Google Sites. Be default, the page name translated into page URL with addition of "-" after every word but you can change it as you want.
The "Web Page" is default template for creating new pages in Google Sites but you can change the default template in Google Sites.
Custom Page Templates
Custom Page Templates
You can built your own page templates, make them default. You can set the location of template and when you create new pages using that template, it will select the page location which you set to it. This feature give a pretty much control for creating new pages in Google Sites.
Custom page template does not make changes on existing pages which you created using them. For example, if you change the page layout, it will not applied on already created pages. This is one of the required feature which can take the Google Sites on next level of developer choice.
Page Settings and Page Options
Page Settings and Page Options
Google Sites keeps the revision history of all the pages. If you have made any change in a page by mistake or you want to revert to previous version of the page, you can do it under More action button. You can change the page name/title, page URL and page description in page settings. Also you can change page location even once it is created. All you can do this in few clicks. Page Layout
Google Sites keeps the revision history of all the pages. If you have made any change in a page by mistake or you want to revert to previous version of the page, you can do it under More action button. You can change the page name/title, page URL and page description in page settings. Also you can change page location even once it is created. All you can do this in few clicks. Page Layout
Google Sites comes up with 9 page layout option and you can select one of them for your page. Few of more frequently layout used by Google Sites designer and developers are: One column, Right sidebar and Left and right sidebars.
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Easy Integrate of other Google Products
Easy Integrate of other Google Products
Integration of calendar, Drive folder/files, spreadsheets, presentations, chats, apps script and more is key feature for Google lovers! Well, you can do it very easily. All this is offered in edit mode of your Google Sites page and you can insert any of them in your page. The integration with other Google products and services make the page editor more advance.This is a very handy feature which make your Google Sites more productive and useful. It make it easy for you to control the interactive content of your Google Sites page.
Specially, when you are running your intranet on Google Sites, the integration of other Google products made you intranet more effective and easy to use tool in collaborative environment.
Apps Script which allow you to write web application and in Google Sites, you can deploy these dynamic web application into your Google Sites less then a minute. This makes the Google Sites most advance and preferable platform for cloud developer.
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Tracking your Google Sites website
Tracking your Google Sites website
Everyone want to track his website and Google Sites give you easy integration of Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tool to use with your Google Sites. No code implementation is required.
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Work Together and Share
Work Together and Share
Sharing and Permissions in Google Sites let you designate owners, collaborators and viewers for your site. You can always control your Google Sites who has access, whether it's just yourself, your team, or your whole organization to work with it or the world to view it. Its very simple as it was never before.
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Powerful Search Engine in Google Sites
Powerful Search Engine in Google Sites
Search across the site content using powerful Google search technology. Now you can find specific pages and documents instantly as the same way you do on Google.com. You can Configure Google Sites Search Engine and make it searchable only for a site, on entire domain sites and with Google! Also you can configure additional search providers, for example, Google Custom Search Engine and enable Google Adsence to earn money.
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Pricing and Storage
Pricing and Storage
Google Sites is free to use for all Google stand alone users. If you are using Google Apps for work, it comes with no additional charges. It depends which Google account type you are using for Google Site. There are 5 types of user account.
For Sites created under: http://sites.google.com/site/
- Site quota: 100Mb/site
- Pages per site: unlimited
- Max attachment size: 20Mb
Google Apps: Partner Edition
- Site quota: 100Mb/site
- Pages per site: unlimited
- Max attachment size: 20Mb
Google Apps: Standard Edition (Free if your domain is using Google Apps)
- Quota per domain: 10Gb
- Max attachment size: 20Mb
- Sites per domain: unlimited
- Pages per site: unlimited
- Site quota: N/A (quota is tracked at the domain level)
Google Apps: Premier Edition
- Max attachment size: 50Mb
- Sites per domain: unlimited
- Pages per site: unlimited
- Site quota: N/A (quota is tracked at the domain level)
- Quota per domain: 10Gb + 500Mb multiplied by the number of paid users
Google Apps: EDU Edition
- Quota per domain: 100Gb
- Max attachment size: 20Mb
- Sites per domain: unlimited
- Pages per site: unlimited
- Site quota: N/A (quota is tracked at the domain level)
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Related FAQs
Q. I Do you recommend to use Google Sites for business websites and private intranets?
A. Of course, we do highly recommend.
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