Google Sites Design Features

Google sites is a great way to publish content to the web for a wide audience. Teachers and students are using Google Sites in a variety of ways in education.  

• As a classroom web page
• For Student ePortfolios
• For a unit or project
• As a digital resource for teachers, parents, board members, community members or clubs
• See examples here

To take Google Sites to the next level, I like to start with the simple theme in Google Sites and then begin playing with the colors, fonts and design of the Google Site.  

Organization

In order to get more real estate on your Google Site (more links visible on the front page) in an organized manner, I like to use Horizontal Navigation.  With a few simple organizational clicks you can change the navigation from the side bar to horizontal navigation with drop down menus.

You can learn how to use Horizontal Navigation here.

Design

In order to help you with creating a new header for your Google Site I like to use ColourLovers and PicMonkey (a replacement for Picnik).   Using ColourLovers you can find colors that look good together and create a pattern based on the colors you like.  Then, you can import the colored pattern into PicMonkey and add some text, boarders and images if you would like.  Then, I add this new header for my Google Site.

You can watch my screencasts on how to use ColourLovers and PicMonkey here. 

• How to use ColourLovers and Picnik (now use PicMonkey) to replace your Site Logo
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  How to use ColourLovers and Picnik (now use PicMonkey) to create an image for your Site

*Note...the screencasts are examples of me using Picnik (no longer active) and not PicMonkey.  I think you'll find that both of these sites use the same type of editing and you will be able to create and edit in PicMonkey just as easily as Picnik. 

To learn more about Google Sites and see examples in education click here

-Molly

Want to learn more?

Join us at one of the Google Apps for Education Summits this year!

CA Google Apps Summit- Santa Clara, CA July 12-13

CO Google Apps Summit- Boulder, CO August 2-3

Maine Google Apps Summit- Yarmouth, ME August 16-17

Latin America Google Apps Summit- Mexico City August 31-September 1

New Zealand Google Apps Summit- Auckland, NZ October 9

Midwest Google Apps Summit- Wisconsin Dells, WI November 12-13

Creating a Classroom Site Using Google Sites

Last night I presented a webinar on how to create a classroom website using Google Sites.  

• Recorded webinar
• Q&A Transcript
• Resource site with slides and links

We had a great turn out and lots of great ideas, questions and comments shared!


As a bonus to the Google Sites Webinar I created a presentation on the Top 10 tips from the Google Apps EDU Training Center.  Enjoy!

An overview of the Google Teacher’s Academy Tools and Resources

Chris Walsh is the host of The Infinate Thinking Machiene blog videos gave a wonderful tour of advanced search features. Have you ever Googled “even more” you’d be surprised as to how many more features Google has other than search! Chris also gave some great tips on how to use Google with your phone!

Jerome Burg gave an overview of how he has used Google Earth and Google Maps for his Google Lit Trips. Have you ever dug a hole to the other side of the earth using Google earth? Measure distances on Google Maps? Geo Apps for Google :)

Mark Wagner demonstrated Google Docs newest features including how to collect information using forms on Google Spreadsheets. Also there is a new “gadget library” found under “create a map, cart or table link within a spreadsheet.”

Cheryl Davis shared amazing ways that she is using iGoogle, Blogger and Reader in her classroom. Did you know that you can share an entire tab in iGoogle with colleagues, students and parents?

Kathleen Ferenz introduced Google Notebook and other Google tools to use in the research process. Google Notebook is the future of online note-taking and when used appropriately. Your Google Notebook can also be shared with other people.

Kyle Brumbaugh shared how an entire district adopted Google Apps for Education. Can you imagine not having a Microsoft suite and having all the programs that you need hosted online? G-mail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and iGoogle are a great starting place for districts to start saving money on site licenses. Kyle also shared with us how Google Sites work as Google’s version of a wiki and a web page in one.

Life at the Googleplex