Refresher Course (Nov 2025): How did ever do what I did a year ago? Remarks and Warnings...
(November 2025. Note: I'm not entirely certain the stuff below is 100% correct; this is DRAFT...)
Let's assume that you've used (New) Google Sites at some point, and you've located an old website. You -- like I am right now -- am wondering how I ever did what I did. Here are some points that I found useful
All webpages are on your Google Drive, specifically on https://sites.google.com
Yes, it's 2025; ChatGPT/Gemini/etc. are your friends, and they are OK at explaining things. However, sometimes they mess up basic details, as of Nov 2025 (ChatGPT, paying version of roughly $20 (USD) / month.
To play around: take one of your websites, and make a copy of it; or start a new one.
To copy an element of one page to another (e.g., a text box, on a Macbook): drag your mouse over all the text, then ⌘ + C, then go to the target page and ⌘ + V (just as usual copy/paste on a Mac).
The right sidebar "Insert" and "Pages" ARE CRUCIAL to understand: Pages is where all the website pages reside. Insert is -- of course -- to insert various element. Themes is equivalent to a style file (i.e., like CSS), but more limited.
NB: Your webpage elements seem to be organized by sections. Google sites seems to do this automatically. There are ways to build BLOCKS (see Insert -> CONTENT BLOCKS).
When you push the PUBLISH button, the website gets published/updates quite quickly, but you may have to wait a bit before you can refresh/(re)load a page and see the changes.
If you are like me, you will want to often click the three vertical dots near Publish, and make a copy of the entire website and date it (e.g., Copy of DiffH - 2025_11_04).
Content that you link to (e.g., PDF files) can be stored on drive.google.com