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Google PageCreator (beta)

Really. Honestly. Truly. I feel blessed! After all, The God of All Things (Big and Small), the great Google allowed me to access its service! And I was 'invited' to do so!

So ladies and gentlemen, I was given an 'invitation' (after I requested one by signing up on their site) from Google to try another new offering from Google stable, Google PageCreator.
PageCreator is a WYSIWYG ('What You See Is What You Get') tool that enables you to create a web page, using available templates and FrontPage like controls (e.g. inserting image or formatting text). Your pages are saved automatically and you can publish them on a 100 MB server space provided by Google, accessible by domain name: <\your-gmail-domain'>.googlepages.com(e.g. my homepage URL is http://iabhishek.googlepages.com).

What is so special about PageCreator? The controls are very elementary in nature. You can't access or edit the source-code of the page being generated. There are a number of page templates available but almost all seemed to me minor variations of each other, some color added here, some gif changed there. You can't create any new layouts or templates. So it is quite stifling if you want to express your creativity.

But this simplicity can be good for the beginners and newbees. If you are an HTML illiterate and have no idea (or don't want to have any hassles) of finding free servers and want to have a website of your own the Google PageCreator and Google Pages form the ideal combination for you.

The page even shows placeholders for putting in your text and headings. Uploading images is fast and easy, however you can place any image in only four sizes (one is the original size and three are decided by Google). Similarly creating any link has also been simplified beyond the limits! The page is saved automatically at certain intervals of time. And you can see the preview in new window any time. A page is available on your domain URL only after you have published it.

I don't expect this new offering from Google to create any ripples. No falling head over heals to sign up for it, no begging of invites! I am rating this service as page designer for beginners and hence simplicity and speed are the only deciding criteria. However obviously some points have to be deducted for lacking in some very basic features. My rating 6/10.

Was that the reason, my invite came so soon?
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