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Google Sites

Google Sites screenshot
Developer(s)	Google
Operating system	Operating System Independent (web-based application)
Type	Wiki
License	Creative Commons or Apache License
Website	http://sites.google.com/

Google Sites is a structured wiki offered by Google as part of Google Apps. It was launched on February 28, 2008. It replaces Google Page Creator, Google's previous webpage creation service.

History

Google Sites started out as JotSpot, a software company that offered enterprise social software. The product was targeted mainly at small-sized and medium-sized businesses. The company was founded by Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer, co-founders of Excite.

In February 2006, JotSpot was named part of Business 2.0, "Next Net 25"^[1], and in May 2006, it was honored as one of InfoWorld's "15 Start-ups to Watch"^[2]. In October 2006, JotSpot was acquired by Google.^[3] In February 2008, Google Sites was unveiled using the JotSpot technology.^[4] The service was free, but users needed a domain name, which Google offered for $10. However, as of May 21, 2008, Google Sites became available for free separately from Google Apps, and without the need for a domain. However, Mobile SMS verification is required for fraud prevention.^[5]

Features

(November 2009), Google Sites offers the following features:^[6]

• Ability to create full copies of sites, including copying from Google Apps to Sites (and vice versa)^[7]
• Subscribe (by email) to changes for individual pages or the entire site
• Native RSS feeds for:
  • Announcements pages
  • Comments
  • Recent site activity
• Default page template:
  • Web page
  • Announcements
  • List
  • File Cabinet
• Custom templates:
  • Individual page types
  • Entire sites
• Integrated with:
  • Google AdSense
  • Google Webmaster Tools
  • YouTube and Google Video
  • Google Docs (Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations)
  • Google Calendar
  • Google Maps
  • Picasa
• Revision history for most page types
• Multiple page layout options
• File storage, including version history
• Access to a full library of custom gadgets which can be used to greatly extend the functionality of Google Sites. Users can also build and insert custom gadgets of their own as a way to include content that may otherwise be rejected by the Google Sites editor. ^[8]
• No ads are displayed, though each user may choose to monetize their site with the AdSense integration.

Limitations

• 100 MB of storage (for free account) and 10 GB of storage for Google Apps users^[9]
• Non-collaborators cannot add anonymous comments (only invited people can "write" to site.)
• Must use provided site themes and structure (limited customization is available, colors, font-type, font-size, no CSS, no JavaScript, etc.).

(see official sites wishlist ^[10])

• A web address of the form "http://sites.google.com/site/sitename/". The sitename portion must be at least 6 characters and can only contain alphanumeric characters (no underscores, etc.).
• A site can also be displayed on a custom domain (e.g. www.example.com, wiki.example.com, support.example.com), but you must own the domain and have access to change the CNAME records.
• Limited use of HTML coding. CSS (cascading style sheets) cannot be incorporated in the theme templates.
• No longer serves .html/.htm web pages, like Google Pages did. All static HTML web pages previously hosted on Google Pages can be migrated to Google Sites, but users later attempting to access them (as well as PDF or other migrated files) must download those files, in order to view.

See also

• Google App Engine

References

External links

• Official Site