Google Sites is a structured

wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...

and

web page A web page (or webpage) is a World Wide Web, Web document that is accessed in a web browser. A website typically consists of many web pages hyperlink, linked together under a common domain name. The term "web page" is therefore a metaphor of pap ...

creation tool included as part of the free,

web-based A web application (or web app) is application software that is created with web technologies and runs via a web browser. Web applications emerged during the late 1990s and allowed for the server to dynamically build a response to the request, ...

Google Docs Editors Google Docs Editors is a web-based productivity office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. The suite includes: * Google Docs (word processor) * Google Sheets (spreadsheet) * Google Slides (presentation software) * Google ...

suite offered by

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. The service includes

Google Docs Google Docs is an online word processor and part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. Google Docs is accessible via a web browser as a web-based application and is also available as a mobile app on Android and iO ...

Google Sheets Google Sheets is a spreadsheet application and part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. Google Sheets is available as a web application; a mobile app for: Android, iOS, and as a desktop application on Googl ...

Google Slides Google Slides is a presentation program and part of the free, web-based Google Docs suite offered by Google. Google Slides is available as a web application, mobile app for: Android, iOS, and as a desktop application on Google's ChromeOS. ...

Google Drawings Google Drawings is a diagramming software included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Sites, and Google Keep. G ...

Google Forms Google Forms is a survey administration software included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Drawings, Google Sites, and Goo ...

, and

Google Keep Google Keep (formerly Google Notes and appears in app launcher as Keep Notes) is a note-taking service included as part of the free, web-based Google Docs Editors suite offered by Google. The service also includes: Google Docs, Google Sheets, G ...

. Google Sites is only available on the

web Web most often refers to: * Spider web, a silken structure created by the animal * World Wide Web or the Web, an Internet-based hypertext system Web, WEB, or the Web may also refer to: Computing * WEB, a literate programming system created by ...

History

Google Sites started out as JotSpot, the name and sole product of a software company that offered enterprise social software. It was targeted mainly at small-sized and medium-sized businesses. The company was founded by

Joe Kraus Joe Kraus is the founder of Excite, JotSpot, and DigitalConsumer.org, along with his long-time business partner Graham Spencer. Currently, Kraus is an Investment Partner on the GV team and President at Lime. Career A long time entrepreneur ...

and Graham Spencer, co-founders of

Excite Excitation, excite, exciting, or excitement may refer to: * Excitation (magnetic), provided with an electrical generator or alternator * ''Exite'', a series of racing video games published by Nintendo starting with '' Excitebike'' * Excite (web por ...

. In February 2006, JotSpot was named part of Business 2.0, "Next Net 25", and in May 2006, it was honored as one of InfoWorld's "15 Start-ups to Watch". In October 2006, JotSpot was acquired by Google. Google announced a prolonged data transition of webpages created using Google Page Creator (also known as "Google Pages") to Google Sites servers in 2007. On February 28, 2008, Google Sites was unveiled using the JotSpot technology. The service was free, but users needed a domain name, which Google offered for $10. However, as of May 21, 2008, Google Sites became available for free, separately from Google Apps, and without the need for a domain. In June 2016, Google introduced a complete rebuild of the Google Sites platform, named the ''New Google Sites,'' along with transition schedule from ''Classic Google Sites''. The new Google Sites does not use JotSpot technology. In August 2020, the new Google Sites became the default option for website creation, while in November 2021, all websites made with classic Google Sites were archived.

Censorship

Following a Turkish regional court ruling in 2009, all pages hosted on Google Sites were blocked in Turkey after it was alleged that one of the pages contained an insult of Turkey's founder,

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

. In 2012, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

(ECHR) ruled the blockage a breach of

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides the right to freedom of expression and information. A fundamental aspect of this right is the freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart information and ideas, even if the receive ...

(''Yildirim v Turkey'', 2012). The blockage was lifted in 2014.

References

{{Google LLC Proprietary wiki software Sites Web applications Free web hosting services Wiki farms Sites Companies' terms of service 2006 mergers and acquisitions