Google Sites (Programming in Python)

Google Sites

Getting Started

Google Sites is a wiki-like system for collaboratively creating web sites. Google stores the pages for you on their servers, and the software is extremely easy to use. The page you are looking at was created with Google Sites.

Here's the support page for getting started: http://sites.google.com/support/.

You need a Google account to create or edit a Google Site. Go here: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

Edit a page

Just click on the Edit button on any Google Site's page and you can edit the page as with any word processor. Click Save when you are finished. Note that the Edit buttons only appear if you are logged in to Google and on a site for which you have access. If you're logged into Google but not on a site that you can edit, go to sites.google.com and either create a new site or choose from the list of sites for which you have accsss.

Revert to an old Version

Note that every time you save a page, a copy of the version is created. You can check all previous versions by clicking Save | Cancel to leave Edit mode, then selecting 'See Earlier versions' from the far right of the menu.

Insert a Link

Select an image or some text in your Google Sites page. Then click on Link in the menu. If you want the image/text to link to a page within the site, just scroll down to find the page in the listing or search for the page by name. If you want the image/text to link to an page outside your site, select Web Address and enter the URL.

Insert an Image

1. Select an image that appears in your browser or some other program, then drag it into your Google Sites page. You can then choose to see a small, medium, or large version of the image.

2. To insert an image from your computer into the page, select Insert | Image and choose the image file you want imported.

Insert a Table

1. Select Table | Insert Table from the top menu, then choose how many rows and columns you want. After the table appears, you can drag items into a cell or type directly in it.

Embed a YouTube video.

1. Go to the page for the YouTube clip you want to embed. Select the URL in the browser bar and copy it.
2. Back on your Google Sites page, select Insert | Video | YouTube Video. Paste the URL as the YouTube URL and provide a title for the clip.
3. Save your Google Sites page and check that the clip runs.

Embed a Calendar

1. Go to your Google Calendar and choose Settings. Under Calendar Details, near the bottom, is the Calendar Address. Click the HTML button and copy the URL (address) shown.
2. Back on your Google Sites Page, select Insert | Calendar. Paste the URL in.
3. Save your Google Sites pae and check that the calendar appears correctly.

Insert a Gadget

Google gadgets are tools that you can add to your site to do interesting things. These gadgets are created by programmers and added to the Google Gadget world. Fortunately, you don't have to program them, you can just use them.

Try Insert | Gadget and see what exists.

Embed a blog or other RSS Feed

Select Insert | Gadget and 'more', then enter 'RSS' in the search. You will find a number of RSS reader tools to choose from. Choose one such as "Simple RSS" and then enter the URL for a feed for your blog or some blog you're interested in. Typically you can find the URL of a feed of a blog by clicking on the blog icon in the address bar.

Edit Site Appearance

Click Site Settings | Change Appearance.You can the select 'change layout' to specify where the sidebar, etc. should appear, 'change logo' to specify an image for the top logo, edit sidebar' to add sidebar menu items, or select 'Fonts and Colors' or Themes to change the coloring and Fonts of the site.

Create a logo for your site

1. Create an image of about 800x200 size. You can use Fireworks on USF lab computers, or another tool for which you have access (e.g. Photoshop).
2. Select Site Settings from top menu, then the Appearance tab.
3. Choose Site Elements and then the 'change logo' link.
4. Upload your image.

Edit Sidebar

If a navigation bar exists, click the 'edit sidebar' link underneath the sidebar to edit it. You can also exit edit mode then click Site Settings | Change Appearance. On the Change Appearance page, click edit navigation bar.

Share your site

Select Site Settings from the top-right menu, then select sharing. You can invite people to join you as owners/collaborators of the site.