Is web development possible using Google Sites?

Question

I have hosted a website. But now my client asks to change it to http://sites.google.com. They have registered their domain with Google.

I logged in the site and saw the procedures to create a website from scratch. But is there any way to directly replace the site into google sites. Like, in my site, I have included CSS files in a folder called stylesheets/css and access it through the link tag. And there are several folders like that: images, scripts, etc.

1. Now, if I have to transfer it to Google Sites, where do I create the folders and stuff? I have the priviliges to login to the admin part of the site.

2. And also, is there anyway to create a database and access it in Google Sites?

3. Also, I see that only HTML pages can be created. Is there a way to add PHP pages or other scripting languages?

4. Going forward, will Google Sites be useful for professional web designing?

Can anyone provide any ideas on whether or not Google Sites is a good idea for a professional webmaster to use?

Answer 1

You should consider hosting your solution using Google's App Engine instead of Google Sites. You can set it up so it uses PHP (see link below), you can configure it to use your domain name and you get enough CPU, disk and bandwidth allowance to serve around five million page views for free each month, if you are serving more than that, their prices are extremely competitive.

Google App Engine: http://code.google.com/appengine/docs/whatisgoogleappengine.html How to setup PHP using Google App Engine: http://blog.caucho.com/?p=187