Technology How To

While Google Sites makes it exceptionally easy to embed YouTube and Google Video links within created sites, embedding other types of video content proves to be a bit more of a challenge. This guide will provide a simple process to embed QuickTime (.mov) movies within Google Sites.

Step 1: Uploading your Video to Google Code

To begin, you must have your QuickTime movie files hosted somewhere on the internet. An easy place to do this is through Google Code. You will need to either log into your Google account, or create one.

Click on the Create a new Project link near the bottom of the page. This will take you to a new screen, where you will need to provide a name, project summary, and project description for your Google Project. You will then need to select a Version control system and a Source code license from a pair of pull down boxes. Most of these choices apply to groups working on open source software within a development community, and are unimportant for our use since we just need the web space.

Once you have filled out the appropriate information, click the Create Project button. You will shortly be taken to your project homepage. For our purposes, only the Project Home and Downloads tabs are important.

Within the Project Home Tab, you will notice a People hyperlink inside the blue border. Clicking it will take you to a new screen, allowing you to add additional contributors to your project, perfect for group project hosting. Simply click the Add Members button, fill in the Google Accounts of your group members in one of the text boxes on this page. Instructions are listed to the right of the boxes, for your convenience.

Now click on the Downloads tab. A list of files available for download on your project will appear here, although if you are just starting a project, this list will be blank. To add a file to your project, click the New Download link, shown below.

Google will ask you for a summary of the file, as well as giving you a browse button to find your file on your computer. Once you have entered the summary and attached a file, the Submit File button should become active. Click it to attach your file. It should now appear in your file list. The most important thing to remember is that your file now has a URL (web address) that you can point to in your Google Sites.

Step 2: Embedding the QuickTime Google Gadget into your Google Site

Now, go to your Google Site. Navigate to the page you want to embed your QuickTime movie into, and click the Edit Page button in the top right corner. Now in Editor Mode, click Insert in the menu bar. It should give you a list of many different things you can embed within your website. Though this page is specifically about QuickTime movies, I highly recommend playing around with the numerous other objects you can insert in Google Sites.

Scroll down to the bottom of the list, and select the More Gadgets… option at the bottom of the menu.

A new window should appear, giving you the ability to search through the many Gadgets Google has to offer. However, since we are using a special gadget to embed QuickTime videos, you will want to click the option Add gadget by URL. You will be prompted to enter a URL for your gadget, which can currently be found at http://wfubiomechanics.googlecode.com/files/embedmovie2.xml

Click the Add button. You will now be asked to provide some settings for your movie.

First off, you will need to enter the URL of your movie. Do this by returning to your Google Code project, going to Downloads and right clicking the link to your movie file. To get the URL, either click the Copy Link Location option, or open the file in a new Tab/Window and copy the URL from the Address Bar in your browser.

Once you input the URL of the movie, you can now adjust some other display settings. The Gadget is currently set to size your movie to 240 pixels wide by 196 pixels high. You should set the display settings shown to match these parameters, to avoid wasted space around your movie. You may also wish to change or remove the title on the gadget, or add/remove a border around it.

Click OK to insert the movie into your page. In editing mode, it will appear as a box with the words “Google Gadget” across the top. If you click in this box, editing options will appear. You can return to the settings screen from above at anytime by hitting the Properties link in these options. You movie should appear in your Google Site once you hit the Save button in the upper right hand corner.

Additional Information

The above Gadget is setup for one specific project requiring certain parameters for its QuickTime movies. If your project has other requirements, such as the need for a larger display size or a different file format all together (.wmv, .swf, etc.) you will need to edit the gadget itself to fit your needs. To do so, download a copy of the XML file to your computer from http://wfubiomechanics.googlecode.com/files/embedmovie2.xml. Using a text editor such as Notepad, open this XML. You should then be able to change the specific movie settings in the code itself, such as frame size and movie player type as you would in any HTML-based project. Save your changes as a new XML document, and upload them to your Google Code project page. You can now use your own gadget in your Google sites to embed any movie type you wish.

Introduction
Google Sites is a simple way to create a web page without the hassle of HTML code or Cascading Style Sheets as displayed in Dreamweaver. Google’s template is not for creating web pages that need a slick display. Rather, Google’s basic setup allows for a page that can help a user display important information to thousands of people at the click of a button. A user can have a web page that includes news, calendars, countdowns, mailing list sign-ups, etc. Best of all, its FREE and simple to maintain.

Initial Setup
In order to create a site through Google, users must create a Google Account. It’s FREE and very easy to setup.

1. Go to www.google.com
2. Click Sign In
3. Click Create an Account Now

If you use G-mail, Google Docs, Picasa, etc., you already have a Google Account!

Once the account is created, sign into Google with a User Name and Password.

While signed in, click the more link at the top left of the main Google page and scroll down to Sites.

Creating A Site
While at the Google Sites main page click on the Create new site button. This will allow the user to enter the following:

• Name of the Site
• Site Description
• Site Accessibility
• Site Theme

Enter in the security code and just like that, the new site has been created! The user should now be at their new site “Home” page.

Basic Googles Site Features
Now that the site is set up. here are a few important features of the Google Sites Template:

Navigation/ “Side” Bar- Provides a list of links to the pages that can be accessed within the site

Page Display- The central part of the site that displays information from individual pages on the site

Page Toolbar- Located above the Page Display; allows the user to Edit Site Settings, Create a New Page, Edit a Page, etc.

Site Search- Located in the top right corner of the screen; allows user to search keywords throughout the site

Page Toolbar

Site Settings
The Site Settings tab is located at the right end of the page toolbar. This is a great starting point because within this link the user can control who has access to their site, the overall appearance of their site, and the general settings of their site (site name, landing page, etc.)

Creating a New PageGoogle kindly starts the user off with a “Home” page and a “Sitemap.” However, it is obvious that more pages are needed to make this site usable. To add more pages to the site, simply click on Create a New Page in the Page Toolbar. From here the user can enter multiple page settings including:

• Page Name
• Type of Page - Web Page, Dashboard (Refer to the Dashboard option section to receive further information on this very useful option), Announcements, File Cabinet and List
• Page Location (Putting the page at the “top level” makes the page its own individual link, while putting it under another page makes it a sub-page)

Lastly, clickCreate Page

Edit PageTo edit the content within a particular page, simply click on the link of the page in the Navigation Bar and then click the Edit Page button in the Page Toolbar. From the Edit Page screen, the user can edit the font, content, insert tables, insert pictures, etc.

Dashboard OptionGoogle Sites is such a fantastic tool in that it allows the user to take all of its other Google programs and apply it to their Google site. For example, with a Google account a user can create a Google Calendar, a Google Document or even a Picasa Photo album, all of which can be added to the Google Site. The Dashboard option within the Create New Page tab is the gateway to this useful opportunity.

• First, click on Create New Page within the Page Toolbar
• Check the Dashboard option and fill out all other necessary information

• Here the user can choose to enter multiple Google gadgets or remove the other gadget fields by clicking on the field and selecting the Remove link
• Once the desired amount of gadget fields are on the screen, click on the gadget field and select from the list of Google options (i.e. calendar, document, Picasa, or even a YouTube video)

If you selected:

Google Calendar

• Google Sites asks for the URL address of the Google Calendar
• To obtain the URL, open up a new tab and go to www.google.com, click on the More link and find Google Calendar
• Create a new calendar for the subject of the Google Site using the My Calendar tab on the left side of the page
• With the new calendar up on the screen, click the Settings link in the My Calendar
• Next, click the link of the name of the new calendar that appears on screen and scroll down to “Calendar Address”
• Click the blue HTML button and the calendar URL will appear - Copy and Paste into the site

Spreadsheet Form

• The Spreadsheet Form runs through Google Documents and acts as a very easy way to create a mailing list or a questionnaire for your Google Site
• Information inserted in the form on the site is put into an organized spreadsheet, complements of Google
• To access Google Documents, click the Documents link at the top of the main google.com page
• From here, click the New tab and scroll down to Form
  
• The main spreadsheet form editing page will now appear- Title the form and add all desired questions

YouTube Video

• Simply look up a video on YouTube and copy the link into the HTML field shown below

More Actions
The More Actions tab in the Page Toolbar holds many important editing options for a page as well. The three most important options in the More Options tab are the following:

• Page Settings- The page is created, but its not showing up in the Navigation Bar? Here the user can check off the box that indicates “Show this is ‘Navigation’ in the sidebar.” Now the page is easily accessible for site visitors
• Print- Easily print the content from an individual page, rather than having the site template on the printout
• Delete- If the page is no longer useful to the site, use the delete option to erase the page permanently