Willamette uses Google Workspace, which includes Google Drive (storage), Docs (word processing), Slides (presentations), Sheets (spreadsheets), Calendar, your email, Forms (creating forms to collect information), and Google Sites.
You can create basic sites for classes, projects, blogs, portfolios, or just for fun using Google Sites.
Start creating by going to sites.google.com.
Go to sites.google.com
Under "start a new site" click on "blank site" if you would like to start from scratch. However, you are able to pick other templates if you would like to, as shown in the screenshot below.
*Note: If you choose a standard theme, you have restricted editing options. For example, changing the button color requires changing the theme color, which may have an impact on other color settings. Within the standard themes you can't modify the button size; everything is predefined.
Now we can edit the blank site we have created! There are a range of options you can pick and choose, and shortly after you start you can even preview how the site will look!
Our first edit can be our header: the header is our menu banner at the top of websites. This is the area where you will see companies' logos, names, and navigation options: About, Contact Us, etc.
To edit the header, click on site name, and then where it mentions “your page title,” edit it to add your preferred choice. You can change your preferences for the font on the right side.
You can add a site name by clicking on "Enter site name" in the upper left corner of the header.
If your header type supports images, select Image → upload to add a background image. Then, click select the picture from your computer. The editor will also automatically modify your header image to improve readability.
Alt text: As you can see, the banner has been created, the image has been uploaded and automatically modified to make sure it can be visibly easy to read. The header is "Digital Learning Studio" and the site name is "DLS" in the top left corner.
If you would like to change the design theme, click “Theme” on the right-hand side of the page. You can upload themes or you can use the pre-loaded ones on the website.
As you can see in the screenshot below, I have selected “Aristotle”, and it has been reflected on the site.
If you don’t like the color, there are pre-made colors for selection, or you can use the paint option on the right of it!
Now we move on to adding content, first, click “insert” on the right column (this site was made with a template that automatically created these image and text boxes).
Go down to content blocks and pick what kind of content layout you would like.
Now you can edit and add information of your choice and similarly you can edit the text, font and size.
Each content choice has an image option; you can upload images, videos and calendar information; in this example below, I have chosen to add pictures.
Once you add a picture, consider adding alt text for it. Alt text allows viewers using a screen reader to get a sense of images that appear on a page. If your image provides important information, you should add alt text.
To add alt text, click on the image to bring up the image menu. Click on the three dots to see more options and select "Alt text."
Add your alt text to the Description box and click "Apply." If your image is purely decorative and does not add information, check the box that says "This is a decorative image."
Right-click on the Home Page, and select “add subpage” - this is to create other pages for the user to go to for a variety of information.
After this, you can build a hyperlink to specific parts of the home page. To do this, click on the link button, which is shown below.
Then you will have an option to link to the page as shown below. You have the option to link text or an image to a specific page that you have already built in the site!
