If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Google Page Creator is no longer accepting any new sign-ups. The standard message on the site is the following. For those who already have signed yup, this is a hint to get prepared to move elsewhere or Google Sites in this case.
"…We are no longer accepting new sign-ups for Page Creator because we have shifted our focus to developing Google Sites, which offers many of the capabilities of Page Creator along with new features like site-level navigation, site-level headers, control over who can see and edit your site, and rich embeddings like calendars, videos, and Google docs…."
What happened to Google Pages Creator?
-
Static vs. Dynamic
This is the era of CMSs or Content Management Systems. Fill up a few screens of configuration info and the site should be up and running with at least a demo page. That's how Wordpress has grown in popularity. If you've ever had a blog you know the setting you need for Wordpress. And it was later named the "Famous 5-Minute Install".
-
Small things difficult to implement in GPC
A simple task of including a javascript on the page could be a nightmare. The same goes for stylesheets. If you edit a GPC page in the HTML mode and include some style or javascript there is no way to tell for sure if it would work.
-
Site-wide Menus
People were having issues implementing site-wide persistent menus. The Google Sites is a considerable improvement in the direction. It's definitely better and more feature-ful than GPC and tends to appear like a simplified version of Microsoft SharePoint - surprise surprise. Google wasn't a mere silent spectator.
-
All-in-one
Plan, share, collaborate and connect - that is the mantra and that seems to make sense. After all we are already in the age of social networking. What if you set up a small site for one of the small Wordpress plugins you made or a Firefox extension for that matter? This is what people have come to expect of an application of this caliber.
-
Technology
GPC validates as "XHTML Mobile Profile 1.0". Apparently a lot of thought was put into extensibility and accessibility architecting this application. But for some reason or the other, it didn't quite come out the way expected. With Opera Mini already a popular for the mobile users generating the exact same web UI as on the computers, it's rather time to move away from the mobile word. Mobiles are smarter than mobiles.
-
A Better package
In context of Google Applications. While they are offering several quality applications as a part of Google Apps, GPC wasn't necessarily the apt fit in the package. Google Sites is a tools that gels and compliments other applications of Google Apps.
What has been your experience using GPC, Google Sites? Have you migrated yet or are planning migration? I am, and it would be good to hear your experience before I do.
Photo by JulianBleecker
|
|
|
|
|
 |
{ 1 trackback }
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
In my opinion Google Pages is much better than Google sites. Check my site and you will understand why I am saying that. One can edit HTML, put Google Adds, and put new templates too. One can be very much creative with Google Pages. All these features are not there in Google Sites. I would urge Google to continue Google Pages.
Jim Ankan Deka
http://jim.pank.googlepages.com/
http://easternfare.googlepages.com/
I completely agree with what Jim has to say. Googlepages is indeed way better than googlesites. The creative freedom is unlimited. Please continue with google pages.
Parmita
So much has been written by users of GPC, and all with one common factor: the migration is a nightmare!
GPC works perfectly for all those people who have made their website with it, and looking at Sites a few month ago I was instantly turned off by the lack of possibilities as were many others.
If people prefer to use Sites: that's fine. But why force thousands of happy users to shut down and migrate into something they really don't want?
I don't mind paying to use GPC, if that's an issue for Google, but now I am looking around to see where to host my pages. At this point my trust in Google is at an ever-low and depending on how the migration will work out, it may just as well be totally gone….
I'm also a bit concerned by this 'migration'… I have tried for hours to replicate my site using the new google sites application, but I must say I'm struggling. GPC was great for total beginners like me, and I managed to use it instinctively but with google sites I find myself screaming at the screen with frustration and my site looks ugly!! I love almost everything that google do, but I wish they could be more specific about when and how are sites are going to be migrated. Will we lose any functionality? Will the layout be altered??
I agree with all of the above. I run an elaborate, very low-budget festival through my Google Pages website — an important tool for communication with a large group — so for fear that my site would transition during the peak period, I tried "migrating" early. I gave up… and I sincerely DREAD the automatic migration that's being forced on my pages … at some unknown time later in the year. I'm not a web designer; Google Pages was the perfect solution for me. Finding another place to host my site and to learn the tricks of building it… again… is just not a pleasing option. Google Sites is not only ugly, it doesn't allow the flexibility Pages gave to my effort. On the other hand… you get what you pay for. Google: I'd rather pay to keep my Pages than rebuild from scratch somewhere else!
Google has been threatening to shut down GPC for a while now. Perhaps there is as much chance of that happening as there is that they'll ever go out of beta? I just set up the same basic website for a client in both Sites and Page Creator. PC is significantly easier to use (important for my client to take over) and looks much better. I don't get it…
I haven't decided what I am going to do yet, especially Google are being non-specific about timescales and exactly how they intend to help with migration. Sites looks easy enough to use on first look at it, although I haven't tried it out properly yet. The fact you can't currently use Adsense with it is a major issue for me, and if this isn't resolved I may have to look elsewhere!
I am currently running my site on GPC and would like more information about the planned date for the transition. It's a bit frustrating that the Big G is so cagey about giving information about anything it does. I will be changing to another hosting service as some stage and would like to know when they plan to do the transition.
Google is never outspoken about its plans. This hit back on the end-users. (History is witness) all Google services have always featured changes as surprises. Time to stop counting on free services when you're doing something serious.
I have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. Google is becoming the next Walmart. Because they are so large they do not care. There have literally been millions of hours spent by Google users on googlepages. I am sure they are more than breaking even on the service because of the Google ads served by some of their users. I am making a couple hundred a month on the google ads on sites I have ong googlepages. Google is already getting their cut of that.
I have literally hundreds of hours on Googlepages—
I do not get it.
I am a becoming a Wordpress guy….