Improved accessibility, editing and ease of use in Google Sites

Several accessibility improvements have been made to Google Sites, ranging from new keyboard shortcuts for editors (like Alt+Shift+F for opening the editor toolbar) to better viewing experiences for readers. Editors can now also set image width to 100% of the screen width and easily customize the font, color, and size of lower-level headers (H2, H3, and H4 tags).*

Release Track:

Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming later in June [*customization of lower-level headers was previously launched to Rapid only and is now launching to Scheduled]

For more information:

Keyboard shortcuts listing

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Enhanced integration between Google Sites and other products

Today we launched several features aimed at improving integration between Google Sites and other products. When sharing on social media sites, Google Sites now will showcase images in posts. You’ll see this change when you share Sites links on Google+ and other sites. Google Analytics support on Sites has been improved to support Universal analytics. Finally, Sites can now embed Google Maps Engine Lite, so custom maps you have created can be shared side-by-side with your content.

Release Track:

Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming later in June

For more information:

Sharing on social media sites

Configure Google Analytics for Google Sites

Insert Google Maps

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Scheduled Release track features update 5/8/12

The following features are now available to domains following the Scheduled Release track:
- No new features to announce

The following features are intended for release to these domains on or around May 15th:
- Sites: Keyboard shortcuts in Sites editor.
- Docs: New version of Google Documents rolling out on May 16th.
- Drive: On 5/14 we will start the rollout of the “opt-in” phase of Google Drive to scheduled track domains. The “opt-in” phase consists of the following:

• Users can visit drive.google.com where they can opt-in to Drive.
• As part of opting in, they will be shown an interstitial which includes this video.
• If an opted in user visits docs.google.com, the user will be redirected to drive.google.com.
• The “Documents” navigation item will change to “Drive.”

The rollout will start on 5/14 and take 1-2 weeks. Once Drive is fully rolled out to a domain, new users in the domain will be Drive users. Even once a user has opted into Drive, they can revert to the Docs look via a setting in the Drive user-interface (although they will remain on drive.google.com).

Domains can disable both the Drive for Mac/Windows and use of the SDK via the Drive / Docs settings page settings in the Google Apps control panel. Note this is not a forced migration, simply an opportunity for schedule track users to try the product.

Release track:
Scheduled*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

*Scheduled Release track: Domains with ‘Scheduled Release’ option enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more.

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Scheduled Release track features update 3/20/12

The following features are now available to domains following the Scheduled Release track:
- Gmail: Open to: email links directly in Chrome
- Docs: A centralized "Comments" menu
- Docs: See full names in document and presentation comments (instead of showing email addresses)
- Sites: Add custom Javascript and CSS to your Google Sites

The following features are intended for release to these domains on Mar 27:
- Gmail: New look released to all users. Opt-out link will be removed starting March 27th and continue throughout the week
- Gmail: The Gmail loading bar has received a visual refresh, inline with the New Look
- Gmail: Users who prefer text buttons rather than icons will be able to change this in "Settings"
- Gmail: Star and label messages before you send them

Release track:
Scheduled

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

*Scheduled Release track: Domains with ‘Scheduled Release’ option enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more.

For more information:
http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2473038

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Scheduled Release track features update 3/13/12

The following features are now available to domains following the Scheduled Release track:
- Gmail: G+ users can now hide their G+ Circles while in the Gmail interface. This is rolling out to users over the next few days.

The following features are intended for release to these domains on Mar 20:
- Gmail: Open to: email links directly in Chrome
- Docs: A centralized "Comments" menu
- Docs: See full names in document and presentation comments (instead of showing email addresses)
- Sites: Add custom Javascript and CSS to your Google Sites

Release track:
Scheduled

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

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More control for administrators over the creation and visibility of Google Sites

Google Apps administrators now have the following new options in the Google Apps Control Panel for Sites:

Site Creation: Select whether to allow users in organizational units to create new sites.

Site Visibility: Select the default visibility for newly created sites per organizational unit.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
US English only (Next Generation Control Panel)

How to access what's new:
In the admin control panel, click ‘Settings,’ then Sites, then ‘Org Settings’ to see the new options.

Note: We’re aware of a known cosmetic issue where the organizational unit name does not display properly in the Site Creation section. We’re working on resolving this.

For more information:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=14075

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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New look for Google Docs and Sites now rolling out

Previously available as an opt-in option, the new look for Google Docs and Sites is now rolling out to all rapid release domains. You’ll see clean menus and toolbars, prominent action buttons, and colorful presence that pops when you’re editing with others.

Some of the changes:
- We made it clearer that your document is always saved, by showing “Saving...” right after you make a change and then “All changes saved” once it’s fully saved.
- We added an icon to the Share button so you can tell if your document is shared at a glance.
- If you’re looking for options that were previously under the Share button (e.g. “Email as attachment...”), you can now find these in the File menu.
- By default, the documents list automatically fits a comfortable number of documents on your screen (large desktop monitors show more, smaller laptop screens show fewer). We also added density options to give you more control.

If you’re not quite ready for the new look, choose Help > Use the classic look (or in the gear menu, for some products). We’ll support the classic look for at least a few more weeks, but encourage you to use the new look.

Release track:
Rapid*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Docs and Sites

For more information:http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/10/experience-new-look-of-docs-and-sites.html

*Rapid Release track: Domains with ‘Rapid release’ checkbox enabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Visualize your data with Charts in Google Sites

You can now display charts directly in Google Sites. Once you select a spreadsheet, the editor picks existing charts from the spreadsheet to embed into a Site.

You can decide to choose between two modes Live and Snapshot to show the data.
- Live provides you with dynamic charts. Whenever the chart is loaded in the Site, the chart will display the most recent data in the spreadsheet. This is very useful in cases when the spreadsheet data is updated manually or using a script.
- Snapshot means just that. It’s a snapshot at a point in time, so the chart will store and display the exact same data, regardless of whether you make changes to the underlying data sheet.

Release track:
Rapid*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

How to access what's new:
When editing a page, click ‘Insert Menu’ and choose ‘Charts'.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/visualize-your-data-with-charts-in.html
Help Center: http://www.google.com/support/sites/bin/answer.py?answer=1680639

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Accessibility improvements to Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites

We’ve recently made some accessibility enhancements to Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Sites. Improvements have been made in keyboard shortcuts and support for screen readers among other items.

Google Calendar: Google Calendar now has new keyboard shortcuts and better screen reader support for our blind users. Members of the blind community can now use JAWS, VoiceOver and ChromeVox to manage your calendars, create and edit events or simply browse your events.

Google Docs and Google Sites: New keyboard shortcuts and better screen reader support with support for two screen readers: JAWS and ChromeVox.

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

For more information:
Google Calendar: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/improved-accessibility-for-google.html
Google Docs and Sites: http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/09/improved-accessibility-in-google-docs.html
Accessibility: http://www.google.com/accessibility/

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Want to give access to a site but not to specific pages? Page-level sharing permissions now in Google Sites

Page-level permissions is now available in Google sites, allowing you to control who can view and edit the site on a page by page basis. For instance you can make some pages available for your domain while making some pages private for certain users.

Once enabled, there are three options to choose from:
- allow a page to inherit all of your site-level permissions
- elect to include future site-level changes to a page
- prevent a page from inheriting any future changes made at the site-level

Release track:
Rapid*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
- Only site owners have the ability to enable this feature which is turned off by default for new and existing sites.
- To turn on page-level permissions, go to ‘More Actions’, then ‘Sharing and Permissions’ and click ‘Enable page-level permissions’. Click ‘Turn on page-level permissions’.
- Select which of the three options you want for that page.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2011/08/better-control-in-google-sites-with.html
Getting started guide: https://sites.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=guide.cs&guide=1387383&topic=1387643

*Rapid Release track: Domains with ‘Enable scheduled releases’ checkbox disabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more

New look on the way for Gmail, Calendar, Docs and Sites! Find out more at http://whatsnew.googleapps.com/new-look

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Google Sites owners: Sites now auto-optimizes for mobile devices

As the dramatic growth of the mobile web changes the way people consume content, it’s becoming increasingly important for publishers to provide a good mobile experience. With this in mind, we just added automatic mobile rendering in Google Sites for iOS 3.0+ and Android 2.2+ devices, and a mobile version of the Google Sites lists. Learn more on the Google Docs blog.

Posted by Luciano Cheng, Software Engineer

Embed your Google Docs videos

You can now embed your Google Docs videos in Google Sites.

Release track:
Rapid Release*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
In a site, go to ‘Edit page,’ click on ‘Insert,’ scroll down to ‘Video,' and select ‘Docs video.' Choose a video stored in your Google Docs account from the pop up dialog.

For more information:
Read more about embedding content in Sites in our help center.

*Rapid Release track: Domains with ‘Enable scheduled releases’ checkbox disabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more

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Accidentally delete a site? Owners can now recover a deleted site in Google Sites

We recently released the ability to recover a deleted site in Google Sites. If an owner of a site accidentally deletes a site, it will be immediately removed from view but they may recover it by visiting its URL within 30 days. Once 30 days have elapsed however, it will not be possible to recover the site under any circumstances and it will be permanently deleted.

Release track:
Rapid*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
- In the ‘more actions’ dropdown menu, select ‘manage site’ to access the ‘Site settings’ section.
- In ‘Site settings’ > ‘General’, you can select ‘Delete this site’.
- You will now see a warning that you are about to delete the site and how to recover it within 30 days.

Note: This feature will apply only to sites deleted after the feature launched; Sites which have been/are deleted before this feature launched will not be recoverable.

*Rapid Release track: Domains with ‘Enable scheduled releases’ checkbox disabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more

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More integration between Google Sites and Google Apps Scripts

More integration between Google Sites and Google Apps Scripts is now available with a new Apps Scripts gadget. This allows more complex workflows and custom applications to be built into your Google Site.

Release track:
Rapid*

Editions included:
Google Apps, Google Apps for Business, Government and Education

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
- When editing a site, select ‘Insert’ then ‘Apps Script gadget’ to add an existing script to the page.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2011/03/build-applications-in-sites-using-apps.html

*Rapid Release track: Domains with ‘Enable scheduled releases’ checkbox disabled in the administrator control panel. Learn more

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Google Apps Scripts now available in Google Sites

You can now create, edit, and launch Google Apps Scripts from any Google Site. This allows you to automate business processes that involve multiple applications.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team, Partner Edition and Google Apps for Government

How to access what's new:
When editing a site, click ‘More actions’, then ‘Manage site’ and ‘Apps Scripts’ to build a script.

For more information:
http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/10/automating-business-processes-in-google.html
Google Apps Scripts Resources

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Keyboard shortcuts now available in Google Sites

Keyboard shortcuts to common actions like create page and edit page for site collaborators have now been added to Google Sites.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team, Partner Edition and Google Apps for Government

How to access what's new:
- In Google Sites, type Ctrl / (⌘ / on a Mac) to open the shortcut help.
- Full list of keyboard shortcuts.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/09/keyboard-shortcuts-in-google-sites.html

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Horizontal navigation, global footer and more in Google Sites

The following new features have been added to Google Sites:
- You can now add horizontal navigation to your site’s layout in one of three different options: boxes, tabs, and links.
- You can now set your site to have a global footer that displays across all pages on the site.
- We’ve added quick links to Google Docs embedded to Google Sites making it easier for collaborators to open embedded documents.
- We also added a “Deleted items” section to site management making it easier to get to deleted pages and attachments.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team, Partner Edition and Google Apps for Government

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
Horizontal navigation: You can enable this in More actions > Manage site > Site layout > Change site layout. You can also set the background, link and hover properties via More actions > Manage site >Colors and Fonts.
Global footer: Set this footer via More actions > Manage site > Site layout > Change site layout.
Deleted items: You can access this new option at More actions > Manage site > Deleted items. In this new section, you can choose to recover deleted items or permanently delete them manually. Deleted items can be recovered up to 30 days after they have been deleted, after which they will be permanently removed.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/08/horizontal-navigation-site-footer-and.html
Help Center

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Apply template themes to existing sites in Google Sites

Google Sites now supports the ability to apply a site template’s theme to any existing site. This does not apply the entire template to your existing site, just the template's theme.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team, Partner Edition and Google Apps for Government

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
Click 'More actions', then 'Manage site'. Go to 'Themes', then select 'Browse the theme gallery' to choose a template's theme.

For more information:
http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2010/07/apply-template-themes-to-existing-sites.html

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Improvements to themes in Google Sites

- You now have the ability to apply a theme from the template gallery to existing sites.
- If you have made some customizations to a theme, these customizations are maintained when changing the base theme.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
When editing a site, click ‘More actions’, then ‘Manage site’. In the ‘Site Appearance’ section, click on ‘Themes’ to view and preview the theme options. You can browse the public theme gallery by clicking on the ‘Browse public theme gallery’ link. If your administrator has uploaded any, you can also select domain-specific themes.

Select the new theme that you want from the gallery and preview the changes. Click ‘Save changes’ to apply the new theme to your existing site.

For more information:
http://sites.google.com/support/

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More access control for viewers in Google Sites

Site owners now have the option to allow viewers of a site to also see site activity and site revisions.

Editions included:
Standard, Premier, Education, Team and Partner Editions

Languages included:
All languages supported by Google Sites

How to access what's new:
When editing a site, select 'More actions' from the drop-down menu in the top right. Then select 'Manage site', then 'General' and in the 'Access Settings' section, select the level of access you want for collaborators or viewers for site activity and revision history. This new option is also included in the Sites API.

For more information:
http://sites.google.com/support/

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