Making your website appealing to your target audience is an important part of the process, and appearance is a key component of that appeal. While Google Sites provides a nice set of themes, you can also create your own.
Google increased its offerings for Google Sites in the fall of 2021, allowing you to create custom themes. We’ll work with you to design a theme that fits the purpose of your site, from colors and fonts to navigation and components.
Create a Theme on Google Sites
- Go to Google Sites, sign in, and create a new site. Select the Themes tab at the top of the right sidebar. To create a theme, expand the Custom section if necessary and click the plus sign.
- The foundation of your theme will then be set up in three simple steps.
- Give your theme a name and, if desired, include a logo or banner image. “Next” should be selected.
- Select one of the preset color palettes or click “Customize Colors” to use your own. To select specific colors, choose three from the drop-down menus or enter the Hex codes. “Next” should be selected.
- Your theme will then be visible in the sidebar, ready for you to customize the remaining elements.
Customize Your Theme
- Any changes you make while customizing your theme are automatically saved, just like in other Google applications.
- The name of your theme will appear at the top of the sidebar, along with a couple of font and color icons. If you want to change the ones you chose during setup, simply click the corresponding icon.
Colors
- You can select colors for the background, titles and headings, and body text in addition to the basic theme colors. To view all available options, click “More Options” at the bottom of the Colors section.
- You can select a color and see a preview for each of the text types. Click the Eye icon next to any of the preview options.
Text
- Following that, you can go over the font styles, sizes, alignment, line spacing, and other options. Expand Text and select a style from the top drop-down box, such as Title, Heading, or Normal Text.
- After making changes to any of the text styles, click the Eye icon to the right to see how your selections appear.
Images
- You can choose or upload a Header, Logo, and Favicon in the Images section.
- Choose “Select” to select an image from Google Drive or Photos, from a URL, or a Google image search. Alternatively, select “Upload” to select an image saved on your device.
Navigation
- In the Navigation section, you can choose the background color for when pages are scrolled and whether or not the top navigation should be transparent.
- Then, when a page is selected, you can choose whether the top or side navigation appears. You can select boldly or underline foreground or background color, or a line besides. Click the Eye icon for a preview, just as you did in the previous sections.
Components
- Finally, you can modify other site components. Buttons, dividers, links, and the image carousel are examples of these. So, where applicable, you can choose the colors, line weight, and active dot.
- And, of course, the Eye icons are back to allow you to preview each choice you make.
Edit, Copy or Delete a Theme
- You can change the name and customizations of your theme, duplicate it, or delete it entirely.
- Expand Custom by clicking the Themes tab in the sidebar. To open the Theme Options, click the three dots and then select an action.
If you decide to use the Google Sites custom theme option, this how-to will assist you in creating a visually appealing site for your audience. If you need help getting started, check out how to use Google Sites for a great place to start.