For your ePortfolio, we highly recommend using Google Sites because it:
Here is a guide to walk you through setting up your first website with Google Sites.
How-To Guide
Step 1: Sign into Google Sites or create an account

- Navigate to http://sites.google.com/
- Sign in or create a free account
Step 2: Create the Google Site

Once you’re signed in, you are taken to the “dashboard” where you can see and access all the sites you’ve made (it’ll be empty if this is your first time). Click the plus sign in the bottom righthand corner of the dashboard window to begin creating your first website.
Step 3: Take the “Tour”
A basic new webpage will be generated for you. Google will prompt you with a “tour” to show you around the toolbox. Click “Next” to take the tour (don’t skip if you’re new to this!).

Step 4: Initial Set Up
- Give your site a title in the top left header area.
- Change the header text on the homepage to whatever you like (ex. Jose’s Portfolio)
- Add a custom header image by clicking on the hover menu that’s over the banner
- Click the Gear Icon in the top menu towards the right. Change these settings as you desire (you can choose what kind of navigation menu you’d like here, connect to Google Analytics, link to a custom domain name you own, edit your logo, etc.).
- Decide on your privacy settings:
- Click the Sharing Icon to the left of the Gear to access your privacy settings.
- You can make your site public or private/viewable to the EHP community only.
- To make it EHP-only, add the EHP Google group email as a collaborator to share with: ehp-gg-all@colorado.edu. Change the view/edit option to “View Only.”
- To make it EHP-only, add the EHP Google group email as a collaborator to share with: ehp-gg-all@colorado.edu. Change the view/edit option to “View Only.”
Step 5: Using the Tool Menu
On the right side of the site maker, you’ll see a toolbox with 3 panes.
Here’s how to use each:

- Insert
- This pane is where you will add all your content. Content is added in “block form.” You choose the type of content you’d like to add in the pane, and then a corresponding block will be added. When you click on this block on the page design area, you will also see a small menu on the right appear that shows you your options for that block if you’d like to further customize it.
- To organize your site, drag content blocks where you want it.
- Pages
- This is where you will add pages to your site that will automatically be added to the navigation menu. You can also add subpages by dragging new pages over the page you’d like to be the parent page.
- Click the plus (+) button to add a new page (or direct link to an external site) to your menu.
- Once you’ve created a page, you’ll see it in the Pages pane. Notice there are 3 dots to the side of the new page title. If you click this, you will see further options.
- Reorder links in your navigation menu by rearranging the pages in this pane.
- This is where you will add pages to your site that will automatically be added to the navigation menu. You can also add subpages by dragging new pages over the page you’d like to be the parent page.
- Themes
- These are your “look and feel” options. You can pick an overall theme, pick a custom font, and choose what color you’d like for your titles and links.
Step 6: Preview and Publish

You can preview your site by clicking the icon to the right of the Undo and Redo arrows on the top menu.
When you’re satisfied, click the big blue “Publish” button in the top right corner.
Appendix A: Setting up Google Analytics
If you’d like to track usage, visits and other statistics, you can use Google’s free analytics service. Here’s how to set it up: