With Google Page Creator being eliminated, I have decided to do a quick comparison of Google Page Creator (GPC) and Weebly.com . I have put this together to aid in making a decision on where to migrate my Google Page Creator site to.
This comparison is not exhaustive, but centered around the key features of GPC
Weebly.com is a free, web based web hosting site. By web based, I mean that you can create and edit your pages with only a browser. Similar to how GPC used to work.
For the purpose of this comparison, I will just be looking at Weebly.com's free web page hosting (They have a paid version as well).
| Feature Comparison | ||
| Branding | ||
| Item | Google Page Creator | Weebly |
| Domain Name Integration | Your domain name was used as the root for all pages | Your Domain Name can be used as the root for your web pages. |
| FavIcon | You can brand your site with a FavIcon using simple Javascript | You can brand your site with a FavIcon using simple Javascript |
| Themes | Each page could have a different theme and with CSS you had pretty fine control over presentation of the site. | You need to select a theme and color scheme for your entire site. However, you can create your own theme with the included editor using CSS. |
| Technology | ||
| Item | Google Page Creator | Weebly.com |
| Javascript | Javascript is allowed on pages. | Javascript is allowed on pages |
| CSS | You can integration custom CSS files using Javascript to direct the client to load the file. | You can create site wide CSS code in the editor without requiring javascript |
| Google Analytics | You can add Analytics via javascript. You have control over how each page is tracked. | You can add Analytics via javascript. You have control over how each page is tracked. |
| Google Adsense | You can add Adsense ad blocks via javascript | You can add Adsense ad blocks via javascript or using the built in Adsense page element |
| Google Gadgets | Supported | You can add google gadgets |
| Google Webmasters Tools | Supported via uploaded file. | Supported via meta tag. |
| Other Webmasters Tools | Supported via uploaded files. | Supported via meta tag addition with javascript. |
| Static Files | Can upload files via HTTP to root directory. Cannot make sub directories. Can upload pages you created in other web design tools (i.e. iWeb) | Can upload via HTTP into a File Page Element. Supports all multimedia file types and others. Site visitors may be able to see the files depending on permissions. |
| Limits | Maximum Files = 500 Maximum Space = 100 MB Maximum File Size = 10 MB Themes = 41 | Maximum Space = ?? MB Maximum File Size = ?? MB Themes = Unique combinations > 500 |
| Google Docs Integration | Integration via Google Gadgets | Integration via Google Gadgets |
| Editor | ||
| Item | Google Page Creator | Officelive.com |
| Tables | You can create tables manually with HTML code | You can create tables manually with HTML code |
| Page Layout | Supports 5 Page Layouts | Supports 2 Page Layouts |
| Navigation | Create your own navigation and breadcrumbs and sitemaps. | Automatically creates navigation, breadcrumbs and sitemaps. NOTE: The built in navigation is done with scripting, so I recommend that you add some standard links to help search engines index your pages. |
| Comments | Cannot incorporate comments from visitors | Cannot incorporate comments from visitors (But you can include Blog Pages) |
Summary
Weebly.com has a comparable list of features that Google Pages had, and it is priced the same (free). In addition, if you are using Google Apps for Domains, you can point your domain to Weebly.
In general, if you are finding that Google Sites (see my post on a Google Sites comparison) does not have what you are looking for, Weebly.com seems like a very good alternative.
Note: If you site contains many cross links, GPC pages did not have a file extension at the end (i.e. http://www.timalosi.com/about) where as weebly uses a .html extension and links without the extension will return a 404 error. (This is most unfortunate)
Related Posts:
GPC to Office Live Comparision
GPC to Google Sites Comparision
Review my Delicious Links related to this Post at http://delicious.com/tim.alosi/gpc
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4 comments:
Be sure to check out Yola (www.yola.com) as well.
Thanks for the comment ... Yola is next on my list!
I've got three sites going with Weebly. It's really good. I highly recommend it, particularly to people like myself who aren't geeky.
Weebly does not create breadcrumbs. you have to create them by hand. It is not difficult actually and gives you a chance to review your navigation and look at all the pages. You can use the "copy to" function to copy the text box with links youve created
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