Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Google Pages Reviewed 164

Posted by CmdrTaco from the not-the-tool-for-you dept.
Tam Hanna writes "We got access to a Google Pages review account. Get the full scoop on what Google Pages can do." The gist of it is that "Google Pages Is Not For You." It's for your mom ;)
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Google Pages Reviewed More

Google Pages Reviewed

Comments Filter:

  • And hear the sighs...... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ShyGuy91284 ( 701108 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:09AM (#15017355)
    Of hundreds of slashdot readers as they feel betrayed by their great and perfect "Google", since this isn't for them.......
  • Nothing nuch to see here either.

  • Duped Trash Instead of News (Score:3, Informative)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:10AM (#15017360) Journal
    So I couldn't help but notice that this article is just [slashdot.org] a dupe [slashdot.org].

    Apparently, a link to a blog with a couple paragraphs and screenshots of a service that has been covered before is newsworthy. Not in my opinion.

    Oh, and if you go to that blog that's linked in the article, there is a "Contact Us" tab which results in the same e-mail that the author of this article (Tam Hanna) linked to their name. This isn't a review, it's a "Oooh, this is neat" article which is odd considering I have a Google Pages account and it's not that neat--it's functional and simplistic but limiting. And please do notice the ads (some by Google) surrounding Tam Hanna's blog. So they'll be making some cash off the Slashdot effect. What a tool Slashdot has become.

    If you want an example of something they rejected to bring you a duped article, here's one I submitted this morning that some of you may or may not care about:

    About a week ago, Robert Jordan [wikipedia.org] wrote a letter to Locus [locusmag.com] in which he stated he has amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is a rare blood disease that leaves patients with a median of one (no treatment) to four (with treatment) years left to live. He confirmed this on his publisher's website [tor.com]. This is devastating news for fantasy enthusiasts but on his blog [dragonmount.com] he spoke about the Wheel of Time series: "Worse comes to worst, I will finish A Memory of Light, so the main story arc, at least, will be completed." Let us all wish him a permanent recovery--if he can write the epic tomes of the Wheel of Time, surely beating amyloidosis will be trivial.

    • Re:Duped Trash Instead of News (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Apparently, a link to a blog with a couple paragraphs and screenshots of a service that has been covered before is newsworthy. Not in my opinion.

      I share your opinion. No way is this any kind of Front Page Stuff That Matters. More like Pimp My Blog.

      Maybe the author is Taco's mom.

      If so, he should get her a Google Page, 'cause her server's choking pretty hard already...

    • So I couldn't help but notice that this article is just a dupe.


      It's not for you, it's for your mom.
    • Seems like you need a Google Page!
    • If you want an example of something they rejected to bring you a duped article, here's one I submitted this morning that some of you may or may not care about:

      OK. Firstly, the article isn't a dupe. It's a link to a review of a service mentioned in a previous dupe. Note the subtle difference.

      And secondly, you have no grounds for complaint. The Slashdot Random Story Submission Selection System (SRSSSS), is completely unbiased. Not even quality submissions are granted preference!
    • You see, I have two problems with what you wrote.

      First, as several other responders have pointed out, a review of something that has previously been posted does not constitute a dupe. Neither does the news that the public beta is expanding. These are separate news items. If you flip out everytime some new Google Beta or marginally-better iPod is announced with a [dupe] and [dupe] and [dupe] and [this too] post, you kind of miss the point: Slashdot is an ongoing conversation, so when something new happens, i
    • I agree with you - the Slashdot editors apply far too much of their own personal biases to what gets published here. Digg is much better in that regard (although their discussion lists are inferior to Slashdots)

      If the editors could piss off and let users choose stories (like Digg or Kuro5hin), then Slashdot would be a lot less sucky in my opinion.
    • The googlites are providing us their with "do no evil" marketing goodness. Perhaps yet another story, about yet another product, that lets you create yet another web site, really is just so ho hum and no matter how many times it is repeated will remain boringly so, yes, what we need in the world is yet more tools to make boring crappy web sites.

  • Riiiight.. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by EBFoxbat ( 897297 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:11AM (#15017366)
    Neato... is this much different than say Geocities was? Just means myspace-like sites on google domains I think. Not my cup of tea.
    • I have played with my Google Pages account. It is a nice little project for them and anyone intrested in basic web layouts and design but the customizeable of it is far from the needs of what a true web designer/developer needs. Anyone on the way to GooglePage hacks?

  • Just what the world needs (Score:5, Funny)

    by Mantorp ( 142371 ) * <mantorp 'funny A' gmail.com> on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:11AM (#15017367) Homepage Journal
    more pages like this [googlepages.com]
  • Unless it allows page creation through one huge button entitled "MAKE WEBPAGE CLICK HERE" its not going to work for my mom.

    In fact, now I come to think about it, she would have to a) Use a computer and b) Use the internet, first!

    ...not gonna happen

  • Not for me? (Score:5, Funny)

    by gEvil (beta) ( 945888 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:15AM (#15017389)
    "Google Pages Is Not For You." It's for your mom

    But what if I am my mom?!?

    • But what if I am my mom?!?

      In that case I would say that you have some major issues, and needn't really worry about Google...

    • But what if I am my mom?!?

      Then you will be convicted for breaking the Time Travel Act, paragraph 4:

      "Time travellers who, either willfully or due to carelessness, cause a causal situation, where one or more certain events, including but not limited to the coming into existance of a certain object or life form, including but not limited to human being, including but not limited to the time traveller himself, causally follows from the event itself, either in isolation or in conjunction with other events and/or

    • But what if I am my mom?!?
      Hey! Your mom is reading /.? Great news for our slashdotter! Make an article here!

  • Sendmail (Score:2, Funny)

    by zaguar ( 881743 )
    I know I'll get modded down for this, but if Pages is for your mom, who is sendmail for? People with PhD's in computer science and maths?

  • Not my mom. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Rob T Firefly ( 844560 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:20AM (#15017419) Homepage Journal
    My mom is still trying to figure out why they plugged a typewriter and a rolling soapdish into the tv.

  • so yea, it is for your mom (Score:5, Informative)

    by escay ( 923320 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:21AM (#15017421) Journal
    FTFA, this sums it up -

    What is the difference to other web hosters? Google Pages lets you create your site online, but it has neither MySQL, PHP, nor FTP support. You see its NO replacement for a common web hosting service, but it is almost PERFECT for users who want to publish their last holiday photos or theirselves. They need no knowledge about web hosting and HTML developing. Of course FTP is important for professional webmasters, but private users dont need FTP or MySQL. They need an good but easy web hosting solution.

    • Of course FTP is important for professional webmasters, but private users dont need FTP or MySQL. They need an good but easy web hosting solution.

      That's really an annoying stance to take though since a lot of 'private users' quickly outgrown the 'easy web hosting solution' and have to switch to full fledged hosting somewhere else. I better system would be to allow their hosting to group with their users.
    • Of course, he's totally wrong. Professional webmasters wouldn't use FTP or MySQL either.

  • Oh my, yes. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ZeroExistenZ ( 721849 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:21AM (#15017423)

    The gist of it is that "Google Pages Is Not For You." It's for your mom ;)

    So you not only have summarized TFA FOR me - so I don't have to RTFA - AND you're saying it's nothing for anyone but a sporadic user... Why are you wasting space on slasdot?

    • So they can waste space on it again in a few hours.
    • So you not only have summarized TFA FOR me - so I don't have to RTFA - AND you're saying it's nothing for anyone but a sporadic user... Why are you wasting space on slasdot?

      So that you know it, now. The real question is, why are you wasting space commenting on a posting you just said is worthless?

  • Well... (Score:2, Informative)

    by O'Laochdha ( 962474 )
    Did anyone really expect anything else? These kinds of webpages have a long history of being geared towards the mass-market, and the mass-market is semi-luddites. The primary market couldn't use HTML if their lives depended on it, let alone script anything. And one has to recognize that a site that does the things the average geek would want it to do would get too much traffic to give out for free. They can't really afford to have interesting websites on a service like this, or they'd go bankrupt.

  • I'm so glad... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by pedantic bore ( 740196 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:24AM (#15017445)
    ... that I have slashdot to remind me several times about every little thing that Google does.

    Gadzooks.

  • Page editors like this although great for people who don't understand page design and hosting, will inevitably just make it easier for everyone to dump more crap then there already is on the internet...

  • For your mom... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ryanvm ( 247662 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:33AM (#15017501)
    The gist of it is that "Google Pages Is Not For You." It's for your mom.

    Hey - that's my motto too.

  • 'How do I turn my Google page on?' - Mom (Score:3, Funny)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) * on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:41AM (#15017532)
    The gist of it is that "Google Pages Is Not For You." It's for your mom ;)

    So it has a personal tech support agent and hand to hold built right into it?
  • At yahoo, I have no problem to enter html statements, while at gpc i have to compose the html off line and upload the page. Of course 100Mb is far more than geocities 15Mb, but frankly, I had hoped for a webspace of 2Gb and counting.....

  • In Bed (Score:2, Funny)

    by smoor ( 961352 )

    Google Pages isn't for your, its for your Mom.... IN BED

    Seriously though, did anyone thing that Google Pages would be met by anything but annoyance and derision by the uber-geeks of the slashdot crowd?

    Its like discussing Garanimals (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=garanimals [google.com]) in a fashion forum. I wish they had those for adults... sigh...

  • Upload all your images and other binary files, and use this as the bulk storage server for your website. Keep the PHP somewhere else, and use the free bandwidth offered by Google. Wonder what the cap on transfer/month is, or if there is a restriction on outside referals...

  • Not true (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ultrabot ( 200914 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:49AM (#15017589)
    Google pages is alright for me. I'm not a web designer, nor do I care about all the gizmos you can do. I just want to push pics and text to the web, and even a basic Wiki would be fine for me.

    What I need, and Geocities doesn't provide, is a fast ad-free ajaxy interface and "one login", i.e. gmail/gtalk/whatever login.

    "One login to rule them all..."
    • I have been maintaining a website on sourceforge for years now. I had to create the pages, then tar them up and use scp to transfer the tarball to SF's server, then log in and untar it, change authorites on the files so they could be served, do minor corrections with vi, etc. Nothing challenging but tedious as hell. I would have probably released more files if I didn't have to update the website each time.

      I decided that I wanted to simplify the website, put everything on one page, pretty it up with a sty
  • Hmm well obviouly the page isnt being hosted by Google Pages if the site had been slashdoted. Hmm. If you got a page and played with it why not show it off. Obviously Slashdot it not for you (or your server).

  • Good for Web Designers too! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Toreo asesino ( 951231 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @10:54AM (#15017624) Journal
    I've actually found this tool very usefull for starting out when designing webpages too.

    It produces perfect cross-browser compatible seperation of CSS/HTML; no tables for one thing, and there's a whole bunch of template layouts to get started with (2 column. The rest just involves saving the source, tweaking the CSS to your own look & feel and adding content! Granted, the layouts are never exactly what you're looking for, but still, it's a good starting point.

    Well done Google!
  • Shouldn't that summary end with "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!"?
  • The Google Pages is a great way to make a website in the time that you have. It's easy and clean. Most of the annoying part of a page (the spacing and layout) is done for you and you just add your content.
  • I've been trying for over 2 weeks now to access pages.google.com and all I ever see is..
    500 - Google Page Creator Oops! Google Page Creator is having a little trouble right now.
    This is not because of anything you did; it's just a little hiccup in our system that will hopefully go away soon. We apologize for the inconvenience, and recommend you try reloading this page.
    error.metadata.read
  • Just another means of ad revenue. They'll figure out some way to get ad revenue out of this--why else would they do it?

  • For my mom? For me too then (Score:4, Insightful)

    by devilsbrigade ( 930153 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @11:24AM (#15017777)
    Not really, my mom uses Front page to do her website for school. To be honest, this IS more for me. I don't classify myself as one of the elite uber geeks, who can code a webpage in perl while debuggin a SQL server and have time to post snarky remarks on /. at the same time. I HATE coding webpages. I can't think of a more boring exercise in the world. Why do you think there are so many poorly designed ones? People stop learing how to do. Its just a whole lot easier for me to post my 100 MB of internet trash to web when all the hard design work is done for me. I can post some pics, make some jokes that are funny to me and my friends, and still have time to go out and have a life that doesn't revolve around the glow of my laptop monitor. Elitist ruin every application regardless of what its for. When did the web bcome a place where on the instructed and capable can play. Why shouldn't anyone with a computer and internet connect be allowed to have thier own special little place to play, celebrate their own life and enjoy making webpage? Do you truly think that thier 100 MBs of usage and 1 - 2 view per month is really going to affect the upload bandwidth of your cable modem causing that critical sword strike you launched at lord Razak to fall wrong ruining the last 6 months of your life? Get off your internet high horse and let people enjoy it.

  • Secret Strategy (Score:5, Funny)

    by XMilkProject ( 935232 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @11:44AM (#15017941) Homepage
    Maybe Google has a secret strategy to easily increase the quality of their search results.

    1) Make it easy to create a useless crap webpage.
    2) All crap webpage designers flock to Google Pages.
    3) Google just blocks Google Pages domain from search results.
    4) ??????????
    5) Profit!
  • As someone who's relatively web-savy (I've used Dreamweaver and Flash extensively in the past and I've grown to loathe Frontpage) I've got to say that I think GooglePages is a truly awesome innovation. Sure - there's no one thing about it that's really that great. But think about the fact that they've bundled the web-hosting, domain-name, and web-creation all into 1 package, made it simple, and made it free.

    This isn't just for people who don't can't learn HTML. This is for anyone who wants to get a decent site on the itnernet but simply has better thaings to do than to learn to make attractive web pages from scratch. Face it - the GooglePages look pretty sweet (especially compared to Geocities, etc.)

    There are a lot of people out there who would benefit from being able to create and maintain their own webpages who simply don't have the time to learn more tech stuff. I tried it out and was immediately convinced it would work perfectly for my dad (an English professor - http://terryl.givens.googlepages.com/ [googlepages.com] ). He doesn't need SQL, PHP, etc. No messageboards, no forums, no online-shopping, no registering. Just text, images, and some pdf/doc docs.

    My dad's a smart man. He could learn all about web hosting, html, etc. if he wanted to. But he's got a PhD in Comparative Literature and he's a litle busy with doing his actual job to start learning how to do tech stuff. There are lot of professionals and other busy people out there like him. They would benefit from a very simple web site. Not just simple to design, but simple to order (try explaining domain names vs. web hosting to most non-techies) and maintain. Not to mention free.

    GooglePages is not rocket science - but in my opinion it goes a long way towards hitting the sweet spot where convenience and function are optimized for people who want to be able to make web pages with no serious training.

    I also think it's not a bad idea for techies either, if you're too busy with other stuff. I'm working full time, I do consulting part time, I have my own small company on top of that, and I'm about to start a masters program. I don't have time to mess with a web site, but it's important to keep a presence on the web (resume stuff). GooglePages is perfect for that.

    -stormin

  • me: and she benches 250.
    guy: peices?
    me: peices?! No, pounds baby! POUNDS!
    mom: I'll bring my tools. I start tomorrow.
  • The article is a bit sparse for a "review", but it does bring up some good points.

    In other places, I have seen arguments that GooglePages is nothing more than a "Googlefied" version of GeoCities or AngelFire. While there is some truth to this, let's not forget two things:

    1. GooglePages (currently) doesn't have any ads. Unlike GC or AF, there are no annoying "ad gadgets" that can really detract from the site content. GC and AF convey the notion of "Hi, you've reached my uber-free site that sports lots of ads

  • Just a couple days before I planned to release the first alpha of my new toy [psychograph.org] (shameless plug), I get an invite from Google to join their Pages beta test. So I checked it out and immediately thought little of it.

    Sure, it's a nice system, but I was actually hoping they'd have done something more along the lines of what psychograph [psychograph.org] does (or, will do when it's past alpha release). Pages seems rather limited when it comes to design elements, taking a rather cookie cutter approach to layout and templates. The o

  • Does anyone else find that this link takes them to the FBI homepage?
  • My browser reads the link correctly, but every time I click on it I get redirected to http://www.fbi.gov/ [fbi.gov]
    • I have managed to fly under their radar until now. I check my lines.. oh so careful not to go to fbi.gov

      Don't make waves... just an average peon citizen who votes Republican.

      Oh my... where is my FOIL!!! Never enough FOIL!!!

      *charlton heston like* Damn slashdot... DAMN THEM! *end charlton heston like*
  • Looks like they didn't appreciate the extra traffic to their site, and now it redirects to the FBI website.

  • What did I do wrong? (Score:5, Informative)

    by Call Me Black Cloud ( 616282 ) on Wednesday March 29, 2006 @02:02PM (#15019190)
    I clicked on the link and ended up here:

    http://www.fbi.gov/?2006/03/29/google-page-creator -review/ [fbi.gov]

    BTW, there's no review there.
    • You're not the only one. Putting on my conspiracy hat, FBI must be taking over blogs mentioning Google until Google's given over the search data the government asked for. ;)
  • Looks like it's actually for the Albanian Crime Syndicate.

    (Since when to slashdotted pages start pointing to the FBI??)

  • Could anyone give a rundown on how it compares to Microsoft Office Live [microsoft.com]? Their beta came out earlier than Google's. :0)
  • I hope this is only a Beta thing. It's kinda funny that they'd even consider embedding CSS considering how lean they make all their sites. I guess each page will have a different style and probably won't have many repeat visitors. But if many people visit more than one or two pages of a site, it would still probably save quite a bit of bandwidth.

Slashdot Top Deals

"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight

Close