Google Sites Has New Gadgets

Google Sites Has New Gadgets
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New Google Sites Gadgets

Google Sites may not allow for much outside code but they still have a way where you can add dynamic content to your sites pages. The Gadgets option lets you add in a multitude of page information such as clocks, recent files or posts and headlines. Using Gadgets in your Google Sites can allow the site creator to have a central location for all dynamic content add-in’s for the site.

All you need to do to see the available Gadgets, is go to click on the More option under the Insert Menu. Once you have done that, a drop down box will appear that lists all of the Gadgets currently allowed for use through Google Sites. The following is a list of Gadgets that are offered right now:

  • Date & Time
  • Horoscope
  • Weather
  • Google Calendar
  • Goggle Translate
  • Google Clock
  • Virtual Aquarium
  • Google Search
  • Google Maps
  • Weather Channel Updates
  • Desktop Chat
  • MP3 Player
  • Comment Box
  • Custom RSS
  • Free Go SMS
  • Guestbook Gadget
  • Youtube Gadget
  • Facebook Gadget
  • Google News Feeds
  • Google Talk
  • Monitis Visitor Tracking

Because Gadgets API are developer created, the current full listing of available gadgets is always being added onto. In addition to just adding these Gadgets to your Google Sites page, they can also be added to iGoogle, Google Desktop and your own PC desktop. If you’d like to get started in creating your own Google Gadget visit the Gadget Developers Guide.

In March of this year, the Google Sites team developed Gadget improvements to help correct the issues that many Google Sites users were experiencing in adding gadgets to their pages. The improvements also work for users of the Premier Edition of Google Apps as well. Updated improvements included are that Gadgets will now match the encryption level of the site, they are easier to made public or private in regards to specific domains and in the start page template each page user once logged in will be able to customize their own Gadgets while selecting which Gadgets will display only for them and not the entire site.

To stay updated with the changes that are being made with Google Sites, you can visit their separate blog for sites at: Google Sites Blog