Google has opened up Google Sites to the general public, letting anybody set up and securely host their own website easily and for free.
A few months ago, the search company launched Google Sites as part of Google Apps for companies and organisations that wanted to use the service on their own domains. This functionality is now available to all internet users.
“Now we’ve made it easy for anyone to set up a website to share all types of information – team projects, company intranets, community groups, classrooms, clubs, family updates, you name it – in one place, for a few people, a group or the world,” wrote Andrew Zaeske, engineering manager, Google, on the Google blog. “You can securely host your own website at http://sites.google.com/[your-website] and add as many pages as you like for free.”
With Google Sites, users can create different types of pages simply and can pull together information from across Google Apps by embedding documents, calendars, photos, videos, spreadsheets, presentations and gadgets directly into those pages.
Built-in editing tools similar to Google Docs allow for popular text and formatting changes to be made in a straightforward manner.
“Once your site is up and running, inviting people to edit or view your content is as simple as entering in their email address (of course, you can change access levels at any time). And you (or anyone who has editing privileges) can add or edit information whenever you like,” said Zaeske.
Google Sites was originally designed to allow organisations easily create a network of sites and share them with whomever they choose.
By Niall Byrne
