Free Google Sites

Google sites are free websites you can build and have hosted by Google. They reside on your Google Drive.

My Recipe Site

I wanted to create a site for some recipes that I’m trying out.
I have been bookmarking videos and recipes and also using the Firefox sidebar add-ins like Notes and 5 notes to make comments about the recipes I’ve been trying.
A website would be a great way to keep this information and it would be easy to share with others if they were interested in a recipe.
The specific reason I wanted to do a recipe website was for the tests that I’d done with baking. I’ve been trying different bread making processes and some are more successful than others.
Also planning meals for the week I can review the list of recipes that I have to help plan.

Using Classic sites and new Google Sites

The Google Sites are pretty simple. I had been told about them back in 2008 and created a couple of sites back then. They were the first websites I’d started and they moved me on to doing more.
Those are now “Classic” Google Sites, they are being depreciated. There is a new version out now that is simpler, and I think more limited, it does not seem to allow for a sidebars on the page.
The URL to the site looks like this:
https://sites.google.com/view/maxrecipes/home
So its not an obvious site that you’d find with a common google search.
Google Sites does allow you to use a different URL if you have a domain. I had an attempt at doing this with a FREENOM free website but couldn’t get it to work at the first attempt. I may give this another try but it was not an intuitive process.

New Google Sites- Editing mode

The site pages are clean, there are about 5  themes that can be used, so a limited choice.

The image below is of the editing mode for the site, where you can add text and images etc (see beginners tutorial video below).

Click on publish button and select View Published site to see what it will look like in a browser prior to publishing.

There are a variety of tools to use, a lot of them related to google docs, even Maps & Calendars. I tried putting in a Chart.

I had to go to the spreadsheet it was linked to and create the chart in the Google Sheet, then it would show it in the Web page.

You can add buttons, but they are just links, the same as the text link.

It is important that whatever google doc links you have are accessible, if you are linking to a google sheet that is private, it will not display for othewrs on the website.

Also, there is a collaboration tool in that you can allow others to edit as well as allowing all to see when you publish (public) so ensure you have checked the EDITING & PUBLISHING settings to ensure you are not just allowing everyone to edit your site.

New Google Sites- View mode

In the view website mode and when published you will see URL that takes you to specific page.

I have a sub-page of the top menu page “Recipes”.  You can get links to different pages on your website in the normal link manner, or to external sites too.

 Here is a video on beginners tutorial for Google sites:

This video shows more advanced options using embed bootstrap with CDN for a google site.

End comment

This is a quick way to get your presence on the web. It is simple, uncomplicated and does the basic linking and uploading that you need.

You can add text, add images,add links,  embed google docs and access your Google Drive and folders on your PC for information. Upload video links and other google content. It is very versatile

There are a few layout options you can use, and if you double click on a space it will bring up the toolbar with text/image/embed/drive options for easy selection.

This is a good option to start learning how to use the web to upload your own personal content, whether it be a load of photos of a trip or if you want to do some basic writing and have it available for others to view. You can also make it private and just have a place to develop your web skills, or share with only specific people and collaborate on some content.