Google have just launched it’s Page Creator – a free system that lets anyone with a Google ID to create a webpage quickly with a WYSIWYG technology.
Users get 100 megabytes of storage space to make their page. Here’s a screen cap of the sign in page (click to enlarge):
I can’t get much past this page yet and am getting an array of Error messages. As with most Google launches I guess this is getting ALOT of traffic to it.
I wonder how long before they allow adding of AdSense to pages – and also how long til Spammers start using them for their purposes.
Found via Google Introduces Web Page Creator
Google’s ever expanding empire. I know there are other examples to be referring to, but first one that comes to mind is Lycos’ Tripod probably called for some jealousy. And where’s Lycos now? All empires share a common trait – they fall, in due time.
not 100% xhtml-compliant and the same weird thing as under Gmail: dots are neglected. so marco.raaphorst.googlepages.com or marcoraaphorst.googlepages.com links to to same page :)
interface is super simple to use I must say. no includes, so no smart and simple file-maintenance, but it’s cool for just a bunch of static-pages.
I got it to work, it’s an okay service. The only problem I personally had was that I can’t stand WYSIWYG editors, so when I found the link to edit the source code I was a happy girl. I think this fits a niche. It’s also ad-free from what I could see, which is a nice addition to the web compared to the other free web page creator/communities that bombard you with popups and inline ads. I found it amusing that it was launched so quickly after M$ Office Live launched. But, I have to say when comparing Apples (Google Pages) to Oranges (M$ Office Live).. I prefer Apples :) BTW, I didn’t get receive any errors when playing with my account. You can click my link (on my name) to see the silly little site I quickly created. (It’s more like a blog post, since I have nothing that I really want to create on their pages at the moment.) Hmm, a thought.. wonder how page rank and serps will be affected by the Google Pages websites? That could be interesting.
I was thinking:
Maybe these googlepages are great start-pages. A page you can leave when adding comments to someone’s blog, or not?
If you already have a website, why would you use it? As a startingpage, a sort of personal ‘this is me’ it might be good. I can imagine Google is mirroring these pages so the uptime might be better than a non-loadbalancing webblog.
What do you think?
I have to agree with all of the commenters here. I used to have pages at xoom.com and they eventually went under. I am not sure why people would use this service as there are many others. I am quite happy to be paying $10 per month for my web host and can use any cheap or free editor to make pages.
This reminds me of the idea behind blogger. I can create a blogger site easy enough but still would rather host my own blogs with WordPress or Movable Type so that I have control over everything with my blog.
one big issue: spam.
check: http://melodiefabriek.nl/2006/02/23/googlepages-spam/
I’d say it’s safe to say that they will not be ad-free for long. Ads are Googles bread and butter.
If [when] they implement ads, I would bet that you would have the option to use your own AdSense account. If not, they should! That would be such a huge difference to other ad-sponsored web hosting.
And why only 100MB? Maybe people will be able to signup for multiple domains (at least 10 to make 1GB) and use subdomains other than their username.
PR and SERPs… Yes, be interesting to see the affect.
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Looks like they’ve throttled subscriptions to the service. I was just discussing this with a colleague and we both agree that this just opened up a huge can of worms. Why on Earth would Google even offer such a service.. makes no sense really – especially financially if in fact they do not plan to put ads on the site or even a link. We all know the bottom line is $$$ money for any business so there’s something we’re not seeing I suppose.
Now about the page rank and serps, I really want to know. I have 9 sites with PR6 and 2 with PR0 that are sandboxed (no reason, just a google thing as they’re 100% perfect in every way except their age). So shall I build me a little google site and jump out of the sandbox? lol or shall I play nice with my friends and wait in line like a good girl? Ohhh, the joy of search engines.
I guess spam might be very tricky with this system but other than that I think it’s super. A lot of people want a website and now they can. Their own page on the web, not a screaming MySpace page, but a simple introduction about who they are.
So what do they need?
A GMail account.
People… start thinking!
This is the message I got when I went inside my account. I would like to check it out how it work out.
“Thank you for your interest in Google Page Creator! Google Page Creator has experienced extremely strong demand, and, as a result, we have temporarily limited the number of new signups as we increase capacity. In the meantime, please submit your email address and we will notify you as soon as we are ready to add new accounts. Thank you for your patience.”
I discovered Google pages this morning and quicky signed up, and by this afternoon when I recommended it to a friend it had become unavailable due to “strong demand.”
I love free services – as a married college student, I can afford little more. I am using my page at Google though to host my resume. It seemed like a good interface for that, and it should do just fine.
If you want to help me not be a poor, married, college student -you can always support me (a la advertisers and Amazon search) on my two blogs (1) and (2)
Google Page Creator … is Google crazy, or crazy like a fox?
Google launched Page Creator (in beta, of course … GMail is still in "beta" BTW) with a flurry of discussion on the blogosphere.
Some are …
Google Page Creator／Googleがウェブページサービスをはじめるみたい。
Googleがウェブページサービスを始めるらしい。”Google Introduces Web Page Creator”(ProBlogger)経由の情報。
へぇ、そんなもんまでやりますかぁ～。Googleすごいっすねぇぃ。Google Page Creator、WYSIWYGな…
From what I’ve read Google’s Page Creator produces code that is invalid. Considering they are using a strict doctype this seems all the more bizarre. You’d think they’d use a transitional doctype so they could get away with a few things in the markup.
I’m glad Savvy Chick found a way to edit the source code but 99% of people wouldn’t even think to do that. WYSIWYG may be fine for Word Processors etc but for Web Development, unless you know how to edit the source code, then it’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Just think about the issue of cross browser compatiblity for one thing. A lot of the sites might look fine in Internet Explorer but try looking at them in Mozilla Firefox or even wait a couple of years when more people are using Opera on their internet enabled mobile phones.
Peter, you are right. They are creating bad html code. For example empty page-tags.
I tried it out too. I think it will be a useful tool for putting up event based or other simple pages and it will be interesting to see how Google treats it search wise given the sub-domain blog naming. http://steamboatspringsrealestate.googlepages.com/ is not too bad for my purposes
Ok maybe it isn’t so nifty. i still need to figure a few things out
spam seems to be increasing because of this. I wondering is Google has considered this. I think they have… no solution yet though.
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