Create a FAST and EASY Web Page (or Website!)

It’s so easy to make your Google docs into real web pages. Here’s how!

1. Create your page in a Google document.

Include text, images, links!

2. When ready to post, pull down your File menu and select Publish to the Web …

(Note that this automatically makes the page publicly accessible; you do not need to make any adjustments to your sharing settings. Keep in mind that the page is public.)

3. Click Publish button then click OK in the popup screen that appears. You can check the “Require viewers …” button at the bottom if you want to limit the audience of your page/site to just those with Rockingham Google accounts.

4. Copy the link!

The real power in this is that when you make a change to the page in your Google doc, it updates the web page automatically. Viewers will always see the most current version and your link always stays the same!

This would be a great way to post homework, links for class use, student work for display, and so many more things!

Ways to Distribute Your Page Link(s)

1. Send link to your school’s website developer and ask to have the link included on your school’s site.  Each school has a page that is devoted to listing teacher sites.
2. Create a short link at Bitly.com and put that in your newsletter for parents. They can type the short link to visit your site without having to enter in the horrible, long URL that Google generates.
3. Create a QR code and include that in a newsletter or post on your wall, bulletin board, door. Use QRStuff.com to create the site.
4. Put the link on your Draggo site, if you have one.
5. Email the link to your parent list, if you have one.
6. Post to (or ask to have posted) your link on the school’s Facebook page.

If you ever want to stop publishing your page, repeat the process of using File > Publish to the web then click the Stop Publishing button.

Other Related Notes:

To make a link in a Google doc, first visit the website you want to link to and copy its URL from the address bar.

Then, either ...

• Paste in the link into your Google doc page and hit Return/Enter …

OR

• Use the link tool to make a word/phrase or image clickable ...

• Type the text you want to be a link or paste in an image you want to be clickable
• Drag to highlight the text or click the image so you see eight square handles
• Click the link tool on the toolbar (looks like a chain link)
• Paste in the link into the box that becomes available.
• Click Apply and you’re set!

To create a short link at Bitly.com,

• Visit the Bitly site at https://bitly.com/
• Accounts are not needed at Bitly unless you want your short links to be private.

• To create an account, click Sign up and enter the requested information
• Recommendation: Once your account is set, click on your username at the top right and select Settings.
• In the settings screen, click Privacy & Communication and click to make your Defualt Bitlink privacy setting Private (as shown in the image below.)

• Copy the long, ugly URL of your web page
• Where you see the Puffer fish at the top, paste in the long URL into the bar (as shown below)

• In the window at the right that just appeared, you can find your link.

• BUT, we can make the link even easier to remember by customizing it
• In the orange box that says “customize” enter a short word or phrase (no spaces) that will describe the page (e.g. mjonesnews2015 (only other stipulation is that it be unique, no other bitly address can have already claimed it)
• Click the “x” in the window to close the panel then you will see your short link among your main list of addresses.

To create a QR Code for your site …

• Copy your web page’s address so it’s ready to paste in a moment (see image below)

• Visit the QRStuff website at http://www.qrstuff.com/
• Make sure Website URL is selected under 1-Data Type
• Paste in your web page’s address under 2-Content where it asks for Website URL

• Now, you’ll see a QR code at the right side of the screen.

• You can right-click (or Control-click) it and choose Copy Image in order to paste the code into a document or you can click the Download QR Code button to download an image file to print independently.
• The code can be scanned online or when printed!