Google Sites Launched

If you have one, log-in to your domain management dashboard and click the Add more services link, where you can then add Sites.

Creating a site

When you create a site, youll first configure site title, topics, theme and more. Im creating a dummy site for Samplonia Incs software downloads. Once saved, the page is (optionally) public on an address like
sites.google.com/a/outer-court.com/samplonia....

Editing pages on the site

If youre logged in to Google as administrator, then you will see an Edit button above pages (among other buttons, none of which appear for normal visitors). Hitting the wiki-style Edit button transforms the page youre looking at into a what-you-see-is-sort-of-what-you-get editor. Nothing so far is revolutionary as similar content management systems have been around for many years (the press release, in true press release style, makes you think Google just invented the wheel), but the implementation is quite usable.

Admin view

Admin view while editing

What the visitor sees

When you create a new page, you can select from different page types (web page, dashboard, announcements, file cabinet, and list), and each type may have more sub-types (e.g. a list can consist of action items, issues, a unit status, or a custom list). Using a list -> issues page, Ive created a todo list for the sample site.

Creating a todo list using the list page type

Many more options are available from Google Sites. Theres:

• the ability for editors in the team to add comments to a page
• the ability to add attachments to a page
• an automated site map, showing the hierarchy of your sites pages
• an alert feature you can subscribe to, sending you an email when the page changed
• a revision history for pages so you can see what was changed on a page in the past
• the ability to customize the sidebar, e.g. by adding a countdown widget
• a built-in site search which doesnt include the usual lags of having Googlebot index the site first
• sharing options for the site, with an interface similar to the sharing tab of Google Docs
• customization options for fonts and colors, as well as the ability to change the theme later on
• and more...

Google also presents a couple of use-cases so you can see what can be done with Google Sites.

The feedback so far

Some of the early comments Google Sites received in the forum were mixed. Ben says, Im so disappointed that its just for creating intranets, and is not after all a replacement for the very basic Google Pages. He adds: I also wish it was a public wiki rather than a private wiki " i.e. I wish people could sign-up themselves, without having to be invited, and could view edit history without having to login.

Beussery notes that Google still seems to be fixing bugs right now. Pau Toms comments that Google Sites needs more integration with the other Google Apps. For example offering a list of the available Docs when inserting into the document instead of having to paste the URL of the doc. David Mulder wonders why people call Google Sites a wiki, as he considers it more of an advanced intranet tool.

Elsewhere at the Google Operating System blog, Simon comments (line breaks removed): Ive given Sites a try and it looks as easy as using Blogger. As usual, Google is starting simple but therell be more to come Im sure. Weve used Blogger for a community organisation which doesnt have a lot of web expertise but Sites may be the way to go for collaborative content generation. Meanwhile, Im wondering if theres potential for a family intranet. And Ephilei wonders: So will this be a total replacement for the Google Page Creator which hasnt seen an update in about a year?

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch argues Google Sites is a relaunch of JotSpot which took 16 month. He says it may not be a SharePoint killer yet, but that Google Apps constitutes 2-3% of Googles total revenues. Some point soon, its going to start hurting Microsoft.

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