Google Page Creator FAQGeneral Questions:[top]
1. Do I need a Google Account?
2. How do I get an account?
3. Are there keyboard shortcuts?
4. Where do I go to suggest a feature?
5. Where is the official Google Help page?
How To Questions:[top]
1. How do I create a page?
2. How do I change my Site's Title?
3. How do I upload a file?
4. How do I publish a page?
5. How do I unpublish a page?
6. How do I delete a page?
7. How do I upload a file?
8. How do I delete an uploaded file?
9. How do I create a folder?
10. How do I enable/disable experimental features?
11. How do I change the layout of my page?
12. How can I change the design of my page?
13. How can I put a link into my page?
14. How do I insert an image into my page?
15. How do I edit my page's HTML directly?
16. How do I put a counter on my site?
17. How do I place a personal guestbook on my site?
18. How do I create a password protected area?
19. How can I get Google Search or Google Sitesearch on my site?
20. How do I embed a video in my site?
21. How can I get code GPC doesn't allow on my pages?
22. How can I display moving text?
23. How do I add a form to my page?
24. How do I add Background music to my page?
25. How do I create a sitemap?
26. How do I create buttons on my site?
27. How do I create buttons WITH submenu's to my site?
28. How do I make a custom a favicon for my site?
29. How do I delete a second site I created?
30. How do I do an auto-redirect?
Other Questions:[top]
1. What is the difference between a page and a site?
2. How many pages can I have?
3. How many files can I upload?
4. What are these experimental features?
5. Can I put Google Adsense on my site?
6. Can I change my site's URL?
7. Can I use Javascript?
8. Can I use a custom CCS sheet?
9. Can I use GPC templates outside of GPC?
10. I just typed some HTML code, but now it's gone...What happened?
11. Why can't I create another site anymore?
General Questions:[top]
1. Do I need a Google Account? [top]
Yes you do. Like all of Google's online products, you have to have a Google Account in order to use Google Page Creator (GPC). However, in addition to a Google Account, you also need a GMail account. The way GPC works is your site's URL is yourgmailuserid.googlepages.com Therefore, without a GMail account, you would be missing the first part of the URL. Click here to find out how to get a GMail account.
Once you have a GMail account, all you have to do is goto pages.google.com or googlepages.com, log in and you will be all ready to go.
Right now, no, there are not any keyboard shortcuts other than the browser's edit shortcuts. (Cut, Copy, Paste)
Right here.
Right here.
How To Questions:[top]
1. How do I create a page? [top]
You can create a page at three different places. The first is at the Dashboard (I don't know if that is what it is called, but it is the main screen where you can see all your pages). Depending on which view mode you have, the create a page button will change to one of these:
The second place to create a new page is while you are editing an already existing page.
Once you click one of these three buttons, a new text box will open up asking for you to enter the new page's title. Now, be careful, this title will also be the URL for the page, which you can't change. (If I call the new page "Cool Things", the URL will be http://goofaq.googlepages.com/coolthings) After you enter the title, click the Create and Edit button and your new page will be created and you can start editing it. The final way to add a page is while you are turning text into a link.
If you create a page from this location, it will not open, however, it will be created.
2. How do I change my site's Title? [top]
While you are at the Dashboard, click the Settings link.
When your settings load, you will see a sections for Site name.
Enter the new title and click the Back to Page Manager link.
3. How do I upload a file? [top]
Similar to creating a page, there are three different places that you can upload files. The first is from the Dashboard. When you are here, you will see a box on the right hand side labeled Uploaded stuff. At the bottom of that box, there is an upload link.
When you click this link, you will see an upload file box. Find the file you want and click the upload button. Once the text of the file becomes a link, the file is uploaded and you are all set to use it. The second place to upload a file is while you are making a link. When you are in the "Your files" part, you will see an upload file box at the bottom of the list of your files.
Once you find your file, click the Upload button and you will be all set. The final way to upload a file is while you are adding an image. When you are selecting the image you want, you will see an upload file box.
Again, all you have to do is find the file you want to upload and click the upload button. *Note, you can upload non-image files this way. However, if you do, you will get a dialog box that pops up after the file is uploaded.
4. How do I publish a page? [top]
As with many other features of GPC, there are a few different ways to publish a page you are creating. The first and easiest is to click the Publish button when you are editing the page.
If something happens that you get sent back to the Dashboard, or have to upload a file or something else, there are also two different places there to publish your page. When you are looking at your Dashboard, you will seecheckboxes next to every page you have created. Any that are not published will be either discolored or will tell you under the title. Simply check any pages you want to publish and then click the Publish button.
Or, if you want to publish all pages that have not been published, all you have to do is click the link in the orange-yellow box above Uploaded stuff.
5. How do I unpublish a page? [top]
When you are in the Dashboard, check the page(s) you want to unpublish and select Unpublish from the More Actions... drop-down menu.
6. How do I delete a page? [top]
When you are in the Dashboard, check the page(s) you want to delete and select Delete from the More Actions... drop-down menu.
7. How do I upload a file? [top]
Whoops, looks like I got really excited about this... Well, here it is again: Similar to creating a page, there are three different places that you can upload files. The first is from the Dashboard. When you are here, you will see a box on the right hand side labeled Uploaded stuff. At the bottom of that box, there is an upload link.
When you click this link, you will see an upload file box. Find the file you want and click the upload button. Once the text of the file becomes a link, the file is uploaded and you are all set to use it. The second place to upload a file is while you are making a link. When you are in the "Your files" part, you will see an upload file box at the bottom of the list of your files.
Once you find your file, click the Upload button and you will be all set. The final way to upload a file is while you are adding an image. When you are selecting the image you want, you will see an upload file box.
Again, all you have to do is find the file you want to upload and click the upload button. *Note, you can upload non-image files this way. However, if you do, you will get a dialog box that pops up after the file is uploaded.
8. How do I delete an uploaded file? [top]
When you are in the Dashboard, click the trashcan next to the filename you want to delete. You will get a confirmation box saying that you can not undelete it, and if you click Ok, then the file will be gone.
Unfortunatly, you can not at this time. I know I would personally like to have folders to organize my uploaded files, but for now, there you can't. Feel free to suggest it :)
If you don't know what experimental features are, see here first.
Now that you know what experimental features are, you might want to know how to get them. This is quite simple. From your Dashboard, click on Site settings
Once in your settings, click the button that says Enable experimental features (if they are disabled) or Disable experimental features (if they are enabled).
If you are going from enabled to disabled, you are done now. However, there is one extra step if you are enabling them. You will get a big confirmation page telling you what you are getting into and asking you if you are sure. Once you pickOk, you are all done and can use these new features.
11. How do I change the layout of my page? [top]
You can only do this while you are editing a page. In the top right corner, you will see the Change layout link/picture.
When you click that, you will get four choices for a layout. Simply pick the one you want and click the Back to Page Editor link.
12. How can I change the design of my page? [top]
You can only do this while you are editing a page. In the top right corner, you will see the Change look link/picture.
When you click that, you will get a whole lot of different templates/designs. Simply pick the one you want and click the Back to Page Editor link.
If you are unsure of what your page will look like with any of the templates, you can click the preview link and it will show you a page that the Google people created that shows you all the different elements of each design.
13. How can I put a link into my page? [top]
If you know HTML, then you can do this from the Edit HTML link. However, if you don't know HTML, then don't fear, you can still put in links like a pro! To do this, simply click the link button on the left side.
Now a box will open up and ask you where you want the link to lead to. By default, it will assume you want the link to point to a page you have created. However, if this is not what you want, there are options for you on the left of that box.
Once you have selected where you want the link to lead to, you have to decide what the link is going to say. (eg. Click here) When you know what you want it to say, type that in the text box on top of the link box.
Once you have done that, click the Ok button, and you are all set!
14. How do I insert an image into my page? [top]
While you are editing a page, click the Image button on the left side.
If you have the image uploaded to googlepages already, then you just have to pick it from the grid shown. It will have all the images that you have uploaded. If you still have to upload it, then you can browse for it and upload it right from this box.
If this image is already hosted somewhere else on the internet, then don't worry, you don't have to find it, save it to your computer, then upload it, GPC has what you need to reference to it. Next to the grid, you will see options.
Click the radio button next to Web address (URL) and you will be able to enter the URL of the image you want to use.
Simply enter the URL and click the Ok button. In case you didn't see, the image will show up under the text box, so if you don't see an image, something is wrong with the URL you are putting in.
15. How do I edit my page's HTML directly? [top]
At the bottom right side of the edit page screen, there is an Edit HTML link.
Make sure you click some text field before you click the link. When you click this, a box will open up showing you the HTML code of whatever section of the page your cursor was in. While you are messing around with the code, there is a cool Preview tab that Google put there so you can see what you did looks like.
Be warned though, when you click the preview tab, you will not see any nifty styles that Google put in the template you chose, you will see straight HTML coding, as if you didn't have the template. Also, any links you have will not work.
Once you are done playing with the HTML code, click the Save changes button and your HTML will be updated and you can see what it looks like with the template's styles.
16. How do I put a counter on my site? [top]*Thanks to Jos' Home
"Setting up a counter on your website is very easy. Even amateurs can fix this! :-)
Goto http://www.statcounter.com. Register here, it's 100% free. Once you're registered Statcounter will ask you to set up some options (counter visible or not, colors,...) DO NOT forget to check the "HTML only" box before generating your code!! You can change these settings afterwards, but you'll have to copy the code all over again into your website, so better set it up correctly." (get more info here.)
This part is all me :)
Now, all you have to do is edit HTML directly and paste the code that statcounter.com gave you.
On top of this, I would also suggest using Google Analytics. This service that Google offers is of course free and gives you lots of cool information about who is visiting your site. It can help to show you stuff like what part of the world your site is being viewed in, as well as how people are getting to your site. The one catch is that you have to be put on a waiting list, but it doesn't take more than a week or so for Google to invite you to their Analytics party.
Another thing I feel I should warn you about is that both of these options get false readings when you edit your pages. Each time your page loads while you are editing it, both of these methods will see it as a returning visitor. So if you edit your pages quite often, don't forget that many of your visits are you...
"Just go to Bravenet and choose Guestbook (under BUILD Tools). Click on "Get yours now". When you have registered (free) for the guestbook,you can select "copy & paste HTML code" under the "Guestbook utilities". Next, go to you Google Page creator, choose your homepage (or any other page where you want to link to your guestbook) and click "edit HTML" (on your left side). Now copy the HTML-code from Bravenet into your GPC HTML-editor." (get more info here.)
"First get your password gate HERE (select the password gate, and click "get yours now") Next Create a new page in GPC (e.g. name= Please login), save and publish this page. Click on view live. then click on FILE - SAVE PAGE AS. , type:" Website, HTML only". Login to your bravenet account and select "copy paste code" from the options. Now copy the code (javascript) into the HTML-code of the pleaselogin.htm file that you've just saved (open it with wordpad: right click > open with > wordpad) Paste the code from bravenet BEFORE the <body><html> tags!! Visit your general setting in bravenet and indicate wether you want your users to be able to request passwords with you. Next go to your bravenet account and select "manage accounts" here you can add users and their passwords. Also give up the URL of the page that should be behind a security gate. Now go back to GPC, and upload the file "pleaselogin.htm". Create a link from your homepage (or any other site) to this file. Finished!"(get more info and another option here.)
"Google gives the code for its search engine right here! you can also choose to include a sitesearch. When someone uses Sitesearch on your site, they will search ONLY on YOUR site! Don't forget to replace "YOUR DOMAIN NAME" by the URL to your site (ending with .googlepages.com)"
99% of the web sites out there that have video (Google Video, YouTube, etc) give you the code to embed a video you find there on a web page. All you have to do is copy that code and paste it into your page's HTML.
This requires a little bit of "trickyness". First, do everything you can using GPC. Once you are done, publish you page and view it. Now, use your browser's Save function (Ctrl/Cmd+S) and name it whatever you want. Now, use some sort of HTML editor (Frontpage, Dreamweaver, GoLive, heck, even Notepad) and you can put whatever code you'd like in it. Now, upload it to your GPC account, and you can view it. ***Be warned, if you do this, then you can't edit this page via GPC anymore. If you have to make a change, then you will have to do it on your computer with your own editor and re-upload it.
If you want to use this method to put code on your homepage, then you will either have to make you GPC homepage something like a "welcome page" that just has a link to your real homepage, or you can do a redirect.
All you have to do is edit the HTML of your page and put the text you want to scroll inbetween <marquee></marquee> tags.
If you goto jotform.com, you can create a form to your liking and the website will give you the code you need to put it on your page. What's cool about this site is that you can create many forms under onelogin. It also offers reports for each of the forms you created.
All you have to do is put this code somewhere on your page:
