General Question

metadog's avatar

Building a site in "Google Sites?"?

Asked by metadog (378points) October 22nd, 2012

Hi! I have been asked to build a site in Google Sites. Lots of reasons why the client wants it there, not all of them very valid… what ever, I’m going to give it a shot. I have been playing around a bit and the system doesn’t seem very user friendly. It almost tries to make you design a bad site. That is not my way of doing things… if life gives you lemons, make lemonade and all that. So I am looking for good tutorials, documents, videos, what ever I can find to “learn up” on this. Google’s tutorials are ok, but not the best. Can you point me in some direction? I would even love to see some great examples of design using Google Sites.

Yes, I know Word Press would be better… or anything else for that matter… lemons, remember? I have lemons. Trying to make lemonaide…

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5 Answers

tom_g's avatar

Ouch. I thought Google had abandoned this back in 2008. It actually does look abandoned. But you don’t need me to come in here and tell you to use Wordpress because you’ve already told us not to. However, I don’t think you have much of a choice here. Google Sites is so bad that it would be almost irresponsible for a developer to take on a project such as this. You’ve already stated that the client’s desire for it to be Google Sites is not based on valid reasoning. It might be one of those times you either convince the client that it is a bad idea, or walk away. Sorry.

metadog's avatar

Yeah, I have the double whammy of a family connection and repaying a favor. There are a couple of bucks in it for me too, but not much. I don’t mind being taken out of my comfort zone too much… And I have the bandwidth right now. But, if this was ANY other client, I would have dealt with the project in the exact way you suggest. But I am kinda stuck on this one.

tom_g's avatar

Sorry you’re stuck. I can’t seem to find any decent material for building a legit site. I wouldn’t be surprised if these awful “templates” are producing invalid html that will cause some problems in modern browsers. I wish you luck. That sucks.

For my own sanity, could you tell us why this person is so set on Google Sites?

metadog's avatar

It is a long story, I won’t bore you with all the details. Suffice it to say that on-going costs are a part of it. The site will be for a fledgling non-profit. He has built other “garbage” sites in there and it meets his comfort level, if not mine. There are also the plusses of having the CMS in place. Once I get this thing running, I can cut him loose and he can destroy what ever I build on his own. My obligation complete.

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