Google Sites opens to all-comers

Google has expanded the reach of its Google Sites web design tool which allows users to create pages without the use of HTML editors or additional coding..

Users can embed applets from Google Gadgets without the need to write any additional code, and embed documents from Google Docs along with calendar information and Picasa photos.

Google Sites was launched in March as an application for businesses with collaborative features allowing multiple users to manage and edit a page.

The company now hopes that the collaboration tools will appeal to the general public.

"A few months ago we launched Google Sites exclusively as part of Google Apps for companies and organisations that wanted to use the service on their own domains," said Google engineering manager Andrew Zaeske.

"Now we have made it easy for anyone to set up a website to share all types of information - team projects, intranets, community groups, classrooms, clubs, family updates, you name it - in one place for a few people, a group or the world."

Google Sites will also double as a free hosting service through the Google Sites domain. The company claimed that there will be no limit on the number of pages users will be able to create.