Well, I’ve just spent three hours trying to sort out a Google Sites account for a community of practice that I’m in using Google Sites, and it’s been really painful. Server error is the message I get. I’d prefer a nicely crafted Google message. Oh well.

What does it do? Well, if you hit a site that’s doesn’t appear to be working, type the URI into this thing and you can find out if it’s just you.

I just tried it when I couldn’t get into Wikipedia. Here’s what it said:

So it’s not just me! Well now, that’s a relief (I think).

Jotspot was more than a wiki. It was a platform on which developers could build applications. For example, the Jotspot site we use has a blog, an app called a ‘bug reporter’, a discussion forum, a ‘knowledge base’ app and a project management tool. There were many other apps you could choose to add. I was hoping that Google Sites would continue to deliver this great functionality. Sadly, it does not.

At it’s most basic level, when you created a page in Jotspot you were given a choice of Web Page (basic wiki page), Spreadsheet, Calendar, Blog, File Cabinet and Photo Album.

Google gives you less. When you create a page in Google Sites you have a choice of Web Page (wiki page), Dashboard, Announcements, File Cabinet and Lists.

The Web Page is pretty much the same as the old Jotspot with a slightly improved wysiwyg editor. The dashboard is quite fun, I guess. You can use it to show your Google Calendar, Google Docs/Spreadsheets, Picasa slideshow, and other widgets.

But there are two important omissions:

1. You can no longer email content to a wiki page. Each Jotspot page had an email address allowing users to email updates to wiki pages or to email attachments to pages. We found that really useful. Especially for the less tech-savvy among our staff.

2. Spreadsheets are no longer integrated into the site. You need to link to them from Google Docs and drop them into the dashboard widget placeholder or onto a new page. And, I have to say, I couldn’t get this to work in Google Sites.

Here’s more opinion, from a loyal Jostpot user and from a reporter

One good thing is the consolidated email login through Google Apps Team edition. That is a great idea.

So why the title? Googlestein’s Monter? Because you have to cobble together all the functions you need. Like Frankenstein’s monster, there are lots of great bits, but they don’t fit together very well. There’s just no clear integration of the Google apps suite. You have to switch between your Startpage (another kind of dashboard), Google Calendar, Google Docs and Spreadsheets and Google sites. You need to plug widgets into pages to get stuff like the calendar to work. And the blog, well, that’s not there at all.

I hate to say it, but Sharepoint just got a whole lot more attractive.

click for Google Reader

There’s lots more you can do, but I think these are the most useful.

Specific group of words in exact order:
Operator: “ … “ (double inverted commas)
e.g. “language learning“

This is great when searching for quotes. Have a go. Who said:
The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder. (paste into the search box in double inverted commas and hit search)

It’s also great for searching for errors that pop up on your PC.

Exclude words:
Operator: - (minus sign)
e.g. “language learning” -britain

Search by document type:
Operator: filetype:
You need to add the file extension (three letters) after the colon.
e.g. “language learning” filetype:ppt

This OR That:
Operator: OR (must be in capitals)
e.g. “language learning” OR “language study”

Definitions:
Operator: define:
e.g. define: weblog

Force words to be included in the search:
Operator: +
e.g. language learning study education +china

Include any other word:
Operator: *
e.g. “tea and *”

Search within a specific site:
Operator: site:
e.g. “language learning” site:www.britishcouncil.org

Numbers:

Google does numbers too. Try these in Google Search:

23 + 22 (hit search or enter)

96 – 15 (hit search or enter)

2 * 6 (hit search or enter)

Etc… you get the idea

Try these in Google search:

Time in Madrid (hit search or enter)

28 Singapore Dollars in UK Pounds (hit search or enter)