Google Launches New Features for Sites

September 1, 2009 · Print this article, Visited 157 times, 2 so far today

Google has introduced some new features to Google Sites, the company's web site creation and publishing app. The new features were made to make it easier for users to copy their site, and use more options to search and announce updates.

Google Sites now allows users to copy entire sites. You can do this by simply going to "Manage Site," then "General," and "Copy Site."

The "recent announcement" gadget received an upgrade, which gives users control over how much text is shown in the post summary. You can show full post content, and/or a thumbnail of the first photo in the post.

Users also now have more control over the search box. If you go to "Manage Site," "Site Layout," and "Configure Search," you can configure search across multiple site, so you can unify them.

"Businesses and schools using Google Apps can configure it to search across all sites in their domains, which is useful for an intranet site," says software engineer Russ Vrolyk. "External search providers can also be used such as a Custom Search Engine or a Google Search Appliance."

With Google Sites search boxes, users can search across the sites' content as well as attachments. Users can search across multiple sites, the entire domain, using a custom search engine, and/or using a Google Search Appliance.

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