GOOGLE SITES CREATION GUIDE

Transcription

1 GOOGLE SITES CREATION GUIDE ABSTRACT This paper is short creation guide for Google Sites. It summarizes few steps which user has to take to successfully create and configure his/her own website with Google Sites. HOW TO CREATE OWN WEBSITE WITH GOOGLE SITES 1. GOOGLE ACCOUNT In order to use Google sites you have to create Google account or sign in with one already existing. 1.1 GOOGLE ACCOUNT CREATION If you don t own an account on Google, there is a web page on URL: where you can create your new account. At first you click on Sign up button, secondly you specify your first and last name, choose your username (this username is used to sign in to Google services) and type your secret password. You can specify your mobile phone, another address or gender if you want. If you specify valid information and submit registration form, you will be forwarded to the next page, which shows your new account. You can choose your profile photo and that is all. Your account has been created and you can use it in Google services. 2. SIGNING IN TO GOOGLE SITES The Google Sites service is available on the URL: You have to sign in with your Google Account in order to start creating your own website. There is sign in form on the welcoming web page. Once you specify your username ( ) and password of valid Google Account you will be signed in.

2 Picture 1 Google Account Login webpage 3. WORK WITH GOOGLE SITES After signing in with your account you will see small black taskbar on top of the webpage. There you can edit your account and use some services such as Google+, YouTube, Google Maps etc. 3.1 CHANGING LANGUAGE Google will automatically choose appropriate language for you based on information specified by your browser. If you do not like specified language, you can change it by clicking on the Settings button (represented by cogwheel image in the upper right corner of the page) and choosing the second option in the popup menu ( User settings ). First select box on the next page is used to select preferred language. When you make your choice, you hit the Save button (designed in red) and return to the previous webpage. Picture 2 Google Account - Language option

3 4. CREATING YOUR FIRST GOOGLE SITE In order to create your website simply hit the red Create button on the Google sites website. After clicking on that button you will be redirected to Google site creation. On this webpage you can choose one of predefined templates for your website (browse the gallery) or create a blank template, specify your website name and write down your preferred location. Optionally you can select one of predefined themes and write some webpage description. When you finish your preparations and write down the captcha code, you click on the create button and your first website will be launched. Picture 3 Google Sites - Page Creation 5. EDITING CREATED WEBPAGE After creation of your website you will be redirected on your new webpage. This webpage is designed in specified template or theme and has almost no content or it contains some predefined posts. To edit your webpage click on the pencil button (Edit page) or press key e. Then you will see Google site web page editor. This tool has been designed for simple and easy editing your web page.

4 Picture 4 Google Sites - Page Editation 5.1 MAIN MENU Main menu is placed on the top of the web page; it contains following items): Insert, Format, Table and Layout. First menu item is used for inserting many different things. You can insert images, links, buttons, some gadgets or special Google widgets. Second item Format is used for creating headings or align text. Third item is used for inserting and manipulating with tables. The last menu item helps to create web page layout (ex.: to specify number of columns). 5.2 TOOLBAR Under the main menu there is a toolbar with lot of icons. This toolbar is similar to classic toolbars of Microsoft Word or any other text editor. There are icons for changing font size, text align, text color, background color, creating unsorted and sorted lists etc. You can use these icons (or associated shortcuts) to modify a selected text. 5.3 SIDEBAR On the left side of the webpage (in default layout) you can see a sidebar with few links to your created pages of your website. The last of the links is the Edit sidebar link, which forwards you to the Site Management (mentioned below). 6. CREATING NEW WEBPAGE Next to the Edit page icon there is a New page button (associated with hotkey c ). This button is used to create new webpage. After clicking this button you will be shown a form where you should specify page name, choose a template and select a location for your new webpage. When you fill all needed inputs and click on a create page button, a new page will be created and will be added to your website. Then you can edit your new page as mentioned above using a toolbar, or menu items insert, format, table and layout.

5 Picture 5 Google Sites - Create a new page in Site (on Site?) 7. SITE MANAGEMENT Next to the edit page and new page icons there is a pop-up menu under the button More. In this pop-up menu you can find many actions for page management. One of the most important is option Manage site under the subheading Site actions (this option can be started by set of keys g then m ). You will be redirected to the Site Management page after choosing the Management site option. On this page you can change the most important things about your website. On the left side of the page there is a menu. This left menu consists of some items used for changing your website as a whole. The first item in this left menu is link back to your website. The first webpage presented to you is the General Site Management Page. See 7.5 General. Picture 6 Google Sites - Site Management

6 7.1 RECENT SITE ACTIVITY This section shows last activities made on your site. You can see who changed your website and when. 7.2 PAGES The next section is called Pages and shows your website structure. There you can see which pages you have on your website and you can change their structure by dragging and dropping an item from the list. 7.3 ATTACHMENTS This section is used for managing some attachments (files) you would like to have on your website available for downloading. 7.4 PAGE TEMPLATES The Page templates section is used for creating new templates for your web page or work with a few default templates. After you create a new template you can use that template on your web pages and create unified design. 7.5 GENERAL This web page is basic settings of your website. There you can change the site description, copy this site, delete it or enable Google Analytics, choose site display language and manage access settings etc. Managing access settings is very important. Anyone can view your website in default state and only those who are given an access can collaborate (change its content) on your website. (Some items in left menu have been skipped in this tutorial). 7.6 SHARING AND PERMISSIONS This option called Sharing and Permissions is another important choice. You can share your webpage via links on Google+, Facebook and Twitter and what is perhaps more important, you can change access to your website. Under the Link to share subheading, you can see Who can access. Under this heading there is a list of people, who can access your site and possibly change it. You should see yourself as an owner of the website with unlimited privileges and Public on the web. The second option includes everyone on the web who accesses your website. The last important thing on this page is an input field with label Add people. There you can type names or s of your friends, teammates and colleagues and add them as administrators to your website. Before you add them, you should set a level of privileges (can edit, can view, is owner) and choose if send notifications to them via . After you make your decisions, you click on the Share & Save button and share your website.

7 Picture 7 Google Sites - Sharing and Permissions 7.7 SITE LAYOUT The option Site layout is used for changing the basic structure of your website. You can change header, sidebar, page content and system footer. Picture 8 Google Sites - Site Layout Header This part of your website is reserved for website or webpage name. You can change its height, logo and alignment.

8 Sidebar By default sidebar consists of navigation. This navigation has a list of links to your web pages of your website. You can change or delete this navigation and even add a new item to your sidebar. You can choose one or more items from a list. For example you can add +1 button, your own text, recent site activity etc. Page content You cannot change content of webpage here, because each of your pages has its own content. You can alter your websites elsewhere. System Footer You can customize your website footer by choosing which links to include. 7.8 COLORS AND FONTS On this page you can change your base theme of your website and modify it. You can specify your own background color or image for your page, change page font or link color and so on. There is a preview of your webpage below menu items. 7.9 THEMES This option shows you a list of predefined themes you can use on your website. Before applying a template to your website you can click on the Preview button and see if you like it. 8. ADDITIONAL GOOGLE SITE OPTIONS You can see a button with label More and dropdown arrow when you access your website logged in. There is a dropdown menu that opens when you click on that button. This menu has been already mentioned in section 7. Site Management. There are three main sections in that menu. The sections are Page actions, Page templates, Site actions. You can use special shortcuts to work with items in this menu. Picture 9 Google Sites - Additional options

9 8.1 PAGE ACTIONS This section provides a list of actions for managing your actual webpage. The settings and operations in this section will affect only the actual webpage, not the whole website Revision History This option will redirect you to the section Pages under the Site Management webpage. See 7.2 Pages Subscribe/Unsubscribe from page changes This menu item is conceived as a toggle button and has two states. In default it is in the state Not subscribing from page changes, which means that you are not notified about changes in this webpage to your . When you click on this menu item you can change your state to the Subscribing to page changes state and you will be notified about changes in this webpage. You can change this option arbitrarily Page Settings The option Page Settings shows basic settings of your page. You can change a few things about your webpage, you can specify your page description, you can change web page template and you can decide about showing page title, links to sub-pages and choose if attachments and comments will be allowed. This option belongs to the current viewed web page and will not affect the whole website Print page The option Print page will open new tab in your browser for printing of actual viewed web page Delete page You can delete your actual web page by this menu option. This option can be disabled if you are on your Main page, because Main page of your website can t be deleted. When you click on this option, a confirmation dialog will appear. The deletion will be processed only after you confirm your choice Preview page as viewer This option is used to preview a current webpage from the viewer point of view. Viewer does not have the rights to access your website, so he does not see the menu items and buttons. 8.2 PAGE TEMPLATES Save as page template This menu item is used to save your current page layout as a template. You can use saved templates for other webpages in your website Change page template You can change a page template of your actual webpage by clicking on this menu item. 8.3 SITE ACTIONS This section provides a list of actions for managing the whole website. The settings and operations in this section will affect the whole website.

10 8.3.1 Subscribe/Unsubscribe from site changes This menu item is conceived as a toggle button and has two states. In default it is in the state Not subscribing from site changes, which means that you are not notified about changes in the whole website to your . When you click on this menu item you can change your state to the Subscribing to site changes state and you will be notified about changes in the whole website. You can change this option arbitrarily Manage site This option is described in detail in the section 7. Site Management in this paper. See to the referred section Sign up for AdSense This option refers to the Google AdSense service. You can sign up for AdSense and earn money by displaying relevant Google ads on your website Sharing and Permissions The option Sharing and Permissions refers to the same name option under the Site Management webpage. Sharing and Permissions is described in detail in the section 7.6 Sharing and Permissions in this paper. See to the referred section.