Early indications show that even formatting works too so Ple have done a splendid Job of the browser this time.

I definitely recommend you use the new User Interface (UI) and enable the new look to edit on the iPad as it gives more space for your fingers to press the buttons. Also be aware that the iPad browser reloads the tab if you open another tab and return to your sites editing tab, so save your page regularly.

Don't forget that this post was completely written on the iPad so the formatting, linking and image insertion was all done with the iPad.

This means you can now buy your Google Apps for Business accounts through Steegle.com and get first-line support for Google Apps from us.

Keep your eye on the site for new products we will add over the coming weeks.

I have been invited as a "Google Sites expert" (guest speaker) at Google's Get British Businesses Online (GBBO) Webinars on 07 September 2010.  The webinar will be available at three times that day:

• 11.00-12.00
• 13.00-14.00
• 19.00-20.00

Use the time slot links above to book your place before availability runs out.

I look forward to helping any GBBO users in this special way to improve their use of their Google Sites.

I have made a Google Sites Help page to group together all of the Google Sites Help I offer on my site.  I hope this makes it easier for you to get Google Sites Help.

Another new feature on my site is the Google Sites Troubleshooters.  There is only one troubleshooter at the minute, the Google Sites Accessing and Editing troubleshooter, so I hope you find it helpful.

Google Sites has again been updated to give more new features: 

New Features 

• Site Templates

  You can now save a whole site as a template!  You can set all the formatting options, logo, background images for the whole site as a template to be used again and again.  To make a site template use the More Actions button, then Manage site, then go to the General settings page and scroll to the bottom of the page and use the Publish this site as a template link: give the template a name, a description and then use the Submit template  button.  The next time you go to make a new site you can select it from the gallery of site templates.
  

  Note: if you use Google Apps then this template will only be available for your domain, even if the site is public.  If you want to make a Site Template to be used outside of the domain use the Copy Site feature to copy the site out of the domain, then make the copy public and a template.

  You can re-edit the template by just visiting the site and editing as normal.

• Making an Image a Link

  You no longer have to edit the HTML to make an image a link.  I have updated my article - Google Sites - Making an Image a Link - to show the new way to do it by just using the Google Sites tools.

• Recent Posts Gadget
  

  The Recent Posts gadget now supports a thumbnail of the first image in your post on small snippets as well as medium.

Bugs Fixed

• Copy Site and Site Templates
  

  After the initial release of Site Templates there were a few bugs spotted: these were fixed within two days of the launch so they are no longer an issue now.

Labels:  l:images l:pictures l:photos

Google Sites has again been updated to give more new features: 

New Features 

• Page Templates

  You can now save a page as a template!  You can make the bare-bones structure of a page and then save it as a template to be used again and again.  To make a template use the More Actions button then Save as page template: give the template a name, a description and upload an icon if your want and then use the Save  button.  The next time you go to make a new page you can select it from the list of page types.

  This also allows you to change the page to a different template: to change a page's template use the More Actions button then Change page template and you can choose what page template to use.  Be careful to as to whether you want the default content for the page as this will overwrite the existing content.  You can use the Revision History to revert the page back to any previous versions and it will go back the the previous template.

  For full instructions and screen shots see Google Sites - Page Templates.
  

• Feeds for Google Sites (XML / Atom / RSS)

  At the top of any Announcement Page you will see a link to a Feed of your posts on the announcement page.  These are listed in last update order, newest update first (as opposed to the Announcement page that orders them in creation date newest first).

  The whole site has a feed also, just add /activity.xml to the end of your site URL e.g.:
  http://www.steegle.com/activity.xml
  but this is always a private feed (for Collaborators and Owners) so you need to use a feed reader that allows for authentication (Google Reader, for instance, does not support authentication).

Bugs Fixed

• Google Webmaster Tools Verification

  This now works again using the meta tag method as explained in Google Sites Now Supports Google Webmaster Tools!

Other Changes

• Insert Image

  The insert image dialogue box has changed so it no longer has tabs: I don't no why, as there is no extra functionality, but it may mean there are more new features to look forward to soon!

I have used Google Moderator to create a tool that allows visitors to Steegle.com suggest Google Sites How Tos for me to write.

If you have seen another Google Site and want to do something similar, or think you must be able to do something and just can't find it, let me know and I may be able to write a how to for you.  You may even find that someone else has already suggested it, so you can vote on the Google Sites How To suggestion.  The more votes the higher the likelihood of me writing it.

Google Moderator also offers the ability comment on the suggestions, so you may find a comment from me saying I've already done that article, or you can find it on another site.

Please make as many how-to suggestions as you like, but there is no guarantee I can do any of them.

• Copy Site
  

  You can now copy Google Sites and this feature can be used in various ways:

• Move a Site to a New URL
  

  Since you can copy the site to a new location you can copy it to the new URL and then delete the original - for more information see: Google Sites - Copy Site - Change the URL of your Site

• Get Extra Space by Using Google Apps
  

  You can invite a Google Apps account as owner of your site then that Google Apps user can copy the site into the Google Apps domain, meaning you can make use of the 10GB given and the advantages of the user accounts- for more information see: Google Sites FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

• Make Template Sites
  

  You can make a site with all the correct layout, colours, fonts, images and example pages and use the Copy Site feature to use it over and over again to get a consistent theme across your sites.
  

• Percentage Widths for Third-Party Gadgets
  

  This means you can now make your gadgets flow with browser width to give a fluid, proportional layout.
  

• Improved Recent Announcement's Gadget
  

  You can have longer snippets (about 6 lines long), or the whole post, or with a thumbnail of the first image.  Yo can also now add a description that appears on above the posts - for and example see News Snippets.
  

• New Search Options
  

  You can now make the site search search all sites accross your Google Apps domain, or use a Google Custom Search Engine to search across various websites, or (if you've really splashed the cash) a Google Search Appliance.

• Various bug fixes
  

  Hopefully that troublesome sidebar issue is gone forever!  For a longer list see: New Release today August 27, 2009.