I had a chance to spend 15 min with with Google Page Creator. (My test page is here).

And I am disappointed. Unlike other services by Google which had at least an iota of nerdness, this is sooo dummy-ish. The templates and the layout remind me very much about the idiot proof Microsoft Front Page. Every google service had usability in mind and simplicity as its core, yet that little geekness was always available for the discerning user. But this, however deep I dig into it, is empty.

I guess what Google has in its mind is something that could directly compete with Yahoo! Geocities. And they are competing with geocities head on. I see that much maligned ‘font’ tag. I am sure everyone and his grandma are going to fill the pages with all available (half a dozen) fonts – all of which are Microsoft proprietary. So much for the usability. The resulting page does not link to any external stylesheet, but all style elements are embedded in all the page – stupidity.

I do not see even simple things like itemizing with bullets or enumerating lists, leave along Table utility. There are tonnes of free web based editors (most of them are open source) like TinyMCE and HTMLArea. Google could have borrowed an idea or two.

One good thing though it does not allow style attributes and script tags – a very easy invitation to attacks. True to Google style, the finished page does not have any Google logo (remember that pestering Geocities box).

I guess Google is fast maturing as a commercial entity. They know where money lies – it is at the wallets of dummies. And now, Microsoft should wake up and see that there is someone directly attacking their customer base.

Technorati tags: Google