Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Two improvements to new Sites footers

What’s changing 

We’re making two changes to footers in new Google Sites. Specifically, we’re:

  • Removing the current footer appended at the bottom of all new Sites, which contains “Made with new Google Sites…” language and the “Create a site” button. 
  • Adding the ability for site editors to show the last time a page was updated via a newly designed site info icon. 
Before: 


After: 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it 

Removing the promotional footer: 
We heard your feedback that the Google branding and “Create a site” button at the bottom of new Sites’ pages can distract site viewers and make your site feel less professional. We’re removing that branding, so your site viewers can focus on your content.

Display the time a site’s page was last updated: 
You’ve told us that it’s sometimes challenging for site viewers to determine how up to date the site content is that they are viewing. With this new feature, you can have all sites in your domain display the last updated date by default (in a newly introduced site info icon) — simply by adjusting a single admin setting, see more below.


How to get started 


  • Admins: Control whether the “Last updated time” setting is available for site editors in your domain at Apps > G Suite > Settings for Sites. Under Last updated time, you can select:
    • OFF: To disable site editors from ever displaying the last updated time on a site. 
    • ON: To give site editors the option to turn last updated time on or off. 
      • When this setting is selected, last updated time will be defaulted to on for newly created sites going forward
    • FORCED: To always show last updated time for all sites — editors cannot disable.
      • When this setting is selected, all sites will display the last updated time. 
      • We recommend this option, as it ensures site viewers can quickly determine if a site is up to date.
  • End users: Depending on which of the above settings your admin selects, site editors can take the following actions: 
    • OFF: No action can be taken — last updated time will be disabled. 
    • ON: Editors can toggle last updated time on or off on a per site basis by going to the More menu > Site info settings from within new Sites. 
    • FORCED: No action can be taken, last updated time will be displayed. 

Additional details 

We’re removing the “Made with new Google Sites” language and “Create a site” button that was previously included in the footer of all sites created with new Sites. 

The “Report abuse” link (which is only shown in certain scenarios) and the “Site details” link (viewable to Admins only) are not being removed and can be found in the newly designed site info icon (lower left hand corner on a site) moving forward. 

Helpful links 


Availability 

Rollout details 
  • Rollout for Admin console settings for last updated time: 
  • Rollout for the removal of the promotional footer and site-level editor settings for last updated time: 
G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions. 

On/off by default? 
  • If the admin setting is set to FORCED, last updated time will be ON for all sites
  • If the admin setting is set to ON (which is the default admin setting), site editors can toggle last updated time on or off on a per site basis
    • For newly created sites, the site-level editor setting for last updated time will default to on. For existing sites, it will default to off.