Google Sets Timeline For Deprecating 'Classic' Google Sites (9to5google.com) 7
Google has announced that its structured wiki- and webpage-creation tool "Google Sites," which it launched in 2008 after acquiring JotSpot, will be shutting down in 2021. 9to5Google reports: This morning an email was dispatched to "active" users of classic Sites detailing its retirement, which will take place over the next year. The email, which had the subject line "Migrate your classic sites to new Google Sites," headlined that the service will be fully shut down on September 1, 2021. To begin this transition, classic Sites creation will be disabled on November 1, 2020, after which point users will have a little under a year to move to the new Google Sites. Alongside this announcement was the launch of the Classic Sites Manager, which aims to assist in the conversion of classic Sites to new Sites. [A new Google Sites was introduced to the masses to replace the withering shell of classic Sites and become a part of G Suite -- allowing for easy integration with Docs, Sheets, and Slides.] It allows you to convert, archive, or delete any classic Sites on your account, as well as export a spreadsheet of all your sites to Google Sheets. Users are encouraged to begin their transition today to avoid disruptions in the future.
Additionally, G Suite admins are given a different timeline to transition, according to the G Suite Updates Blog. This modified schedule sees website creation being disabled in May of 2021, followed by the loss of editing capabilities in October, and the complete shutdown of classic Sites in December, at which point you can no longer view any sites that have not transitioned. This transition was originally delayed due to a number of features from classic Sites not being available in the revamped version, which has since been remedied. Any classic Sites that do not transition before the deadline will automatically be archived and saved to the owner's Google Drive. A draft will be created in the new Google Sites to replace it if needed.
Additionally, G Suite admins are given a different timeline to transition, according to the G Suite Updates Blog. This modified schedule sees website creation being disabled in May of 2021, followed by the loss of editing capabilities in October, and the complete shutdown of classic Sites in December, at which point you can no longer view any sites that have not transitioned. This transition was originally delayed due to a number of features from classic Sites not being available in the revamped version, which has since been remedied. Any classic Sites that do not transition before the deadline will automatically be archived and saved to the owner's Google Drive. A draft will be created in the new Google Sites to replace it if needed.
I got this email a couple days ago (Score:3, Insightful)
I'd completely forgotten that I even had anything in Google Sites.
Fortunately they make it pretty easy to just kill a site. My Google Site was basically a demo; but between all the privacy concerns and Google's famed Project ADHD - hopefully people are finally figuring out it's not a good idea to build on top of anything Google.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
pfft, 13 years of free basic web page hosting and you're saying "don't build on google" just becamse they have a new thing you can go to? Plenty of companies charging money for the same thing came and went in that time.
Re:I got this email a couple days ago (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, Google being Google, most of "classic" Sites features came and went in that time, too. It used to integrate with things like Picasa for photos (remember that?) and had a whole bunch of extensions to do slideshows and other stuff, most of which slowly broke as the other Google services they relied on disappeared. Most of the documentation - to the extent any was provided - was downright wrong. Being free was really the only reason to use it.
I've done a couple of sites for clubs and societies on a voluntary basis and most of the work latterly has involved removing things that no longer worked. I've tried the migration tool and it mostly just deletes anything it can't trivially move to the new version, leaving very little behind. Coronavirus will likely mean that those clubs and societies will cease to exist, so my specific problem wlll resolve itself.
However, it remains a classic example of how Google works - they have a brief flash of enthusiasm, then lose interest and stop maintenance before quietly killing the project off. It was clearly never thought about strategically; no consideration was given to its dependencies on other Google services. Some people were actually paying for it (through education and business accounts), so that's not really an excuse.
Re: (Score:1)
so they came up with other (more standard) ways to put pictures in a web page. Any other web platform also changed over that time. You're lazy and didn't adapt to new tech, that's all.