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Sites

Overview

This page contains User Guidelines for Google Sites.

Google Sites is a tool that allows anyone with a Google account to create websites for free, and relatively quickly.  Google provides a variety of tools, often called gadgets, for embedding other Google services (calendars, drive folders/files, groups, photos, YouTube videos) into the site.  A Google Site may be publicly accessible, or restricted to an organization, or specific individuals and groups according to permissions setup by the site owner.  Permissions for editing the site can also be shared.

ORG-specific

The organization (ORG) has deployed this service in the following specific manner to address our requirements.
  • A site can provide an activity with a 'home base' to pull together the various Google Services that the activity is using and make these services available in a single place.
  • Naming Convention: start with ORG, the activity name, and use dashes between words: ORG-Demo.  Google Sites are accessible using standard Google Site URLs:  https://sites.google.com/a/raabfamily.net/demo
  • Popular sites may also be accessible using shorter URLs such as: demo.raabfamily.net 

Getting Started

Prerequisites

If permissions for this service are restricted such that only specified individuals or groups can access the content, then you must have a Google Account and must be logged into the account to access the content.  Refer to User Help -> Accounts for help with account options.  You also need to be a member of the required group.

Initial Setup

None.  So long as you meet the prerequisites.

Using

The general user population are consumers of our Google Sites content. You have read-only access to these sites.

Visiting Sites

To access a site:

  • Enter the URL into your browser (you may want to bookmark it).
  • The organization should also provide a directory of relevant Google Site links on our main website: www.orgname.com
  • You may be able to access Sites shared with you from your Google Account's Sites page:  sites.google.com
    • This page will list sites you created/own and sites which are shared directly with you on an individual basis,
    • However if the site was shared with a group to which you're a member, while you have access to the site, unfortunately the site will NOT appear on your Sites page.

On some sites, you may be able to add comments on the Comments fields on some site pages (but the comments fields may only be used by accounts within the  orgname.com domain and site editors, making them somewhat impractical), but in general communicating with the group should be done using Groups (posts/email).

Public vs. Private

A site may be completely publicly accessible, completely private or a mix containing some public and private pages.
  • Public sites - anyone can access them. The URL may be either a short format: demo.raabfamily.net or the Google Sites full format:   https://sites.google.com/a/raabfamily.net/demo
  • Private Sites - Google Account sign on with permission required.  The browser URL appears in full format: https://sites.google.com/a/raabfamily.net/demo (even if you went to the site using a short format).
  • Mixed Public / Private Sites - anyone can access the public pages; the URL can be either the short or full format, and private pages are hidden.
    • To view private pages of a site, sign in by either:
      • Look in the page footer at the bottom and click Sign In.
      • Look on the sidebar, for Member Sign In and click Unlock private pages.
    • Now you will also see the private pages accessible to your account.  When viewing private pages, the URL is always full format:  https://sites.google.com/a/raabfamily.net/demo
Note private sites may selectively share pages with different groups or individuals.  For instance, for a theater production, the cast may be able to access some pages, while the leadership team may have access to additional private team pages.

Creating a Site

Note: Any person can create Google Sites of their own using their Google Apps account, but that's outside the scope of these help guidelines (some Sites editing tips are on the Manager Help -> Sites page).

Editing a Site

Permission to edit sites/pages is typically granted only to managers of a site, therefore we have included editing tips are on the Manager Help -> Sites page.

Learn More

Here are some links to Google Help and Learning for this service:
Additional Google Apps help and learning resources are listed on our Google Apps Help page.