Google Docs doesn't offer an option to customize forms and you can only choose from 70 predefined themes. Gill Smith managed to find a list of parameters that let you style any Google Docs form by adjusting its address.
For example, you can remove the title of a form by adding "&ttl=0" to the URL, you can change the font by adding "&f=FONT_NAME", the text color by appending "&tc=HEX_VALUE" and the background color using "&bc=HEX_VALUE".
Note that this works only for the embedded forms, which have a special URL. Here's the address of the customized form displayed below:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=rwP1POieyAS3nnI7OqD7sHQ&ttl=0&f=Verdana&tc=0022ff&bc=f9fff9
Another option is to copy the HTML code generated by Google and to style it using CSS.
{ Thanks, ahab. }
Google Business Cards
To promote the public profile pages, Google started to offer 250,000 free business cards in the US (the link only works in the US). "We are giving away 10,000 sets of 25 Google profile business cards totally free. Have a little fun and show off your profile," suggests Google.
Google's business cards are less conventional, since they only include a search box pre-filled with your name and a link to your profile page. If you have a public profile that's searchable, Google will include it at the bottom of the search results page for your name.
Search Engine Land reports that Google uses iPrint's technology to print the business cards. "The offer is only available in the continental U.S., and Google says the cards should arrive within 10-12 days."
The idea is far from new, but the addition of an OneBox for profile search is a big incentive to create a profile and to manage your online reputation.
{ Image licensed as Creative Commons by Bruno Pedro. }
Google's business cards are less conventional, since they only include a search box pre-filled with your name and a link to your profile page. If you have a public profile that's searchable, Google will include it at the bottom of the search results page for your name.
Search Engine Land reports that Google uses iPrint's technology to print the business cards. "The offer is only available in the continental U.S., and Google says the cards should arrive within 10-12 days."
The idea is far from new, but the addition of an OneBox for profile search is a big incentive to create a profile and to manage your online reputation.
{ Image licensed as Creative Commons by Bruno Pedro. }
Add Search Results to Gmail Messages
The most recent addition to Gmail Labs is a feature that lets you quickly add Google search results to a message. Instead of opening a new tab, typing the query and copying the results, you can now search directly from Gmail. The box that shows up lets you copy the results or just the web addresses, but you can also drag the links to your message.
The feature is useful for navigational searches, when the top result is usually the best answer and it's not necessary to click on the result. Gmail should extend the dialog for creating links with the option to pick from search results. Maybe a future iteration of the Gmail Labs mod will include results from specialized search engines: images, videos, local businesses, maps, products etc. The samples that are available for Google AJAX Search API illustrate some other potential uses for clipping search results.
How to enable it? Go to Gmail Labs, type Ctrl+F, search for "Google search", enable the feature and click on "Save changes". Use it when you compose a new message by typing your query in the left sidebar. If the keyboard shortcuts are enabled, type g and / to focus the search box.
{ Thanks, Sterling. }
The feature is useful for navigational searches, when the top result is usually the best answer and it's not necessary to click on the result. Gmail should extend the dialog for creating links with the option to pick from search results. Maybe a future iteration of the Gmail Labs mod will include results from specialized search engines: images, videos, local businesses, maps, products etc. The samples that are available for Google AJAX Search API illustrate some other potential uses for clipping search results.
How to enable it? Go to Gmail Labs, type Ctrl+F, search for "Google search", enable the feature and click on "Save changes". Use it when you compose a new message by typing your query in the left sidebar. If the keyboard shortcuts are enabled, type g and / to focus the search box.
{ Thanks, Sterling. }
Themes for Google Docs Forms
You can now choose between 70 themes when you create a form in Google Docs to make it look more attractive. Some of the templates already use themes, so they're almost ready to be published.
"How do you choose a theme? When you're editing a form, click the Theme button to find the right theme and apply it to your form. One caveat: These themes will be visible to your respondents when they fill out the form online, not within email (like Gmail)," mentions Google Docs' blog.
The images are served from googleusercontent.com, an interesting domain that could be used in the future for hosting user-generated content.
"How do you choose a theme? When you're editing a form, click the Theme button to find the right theme and apply it to your form. One caveat: These themes will be visible to your respondents when they fill out the form online, not within email (like Gmail)," mentions Google Docs' blog.
The images are served from googleusercontent.com, an interesting domain that could be used in the future for hosting user-generated content.
Swine Flu Trends
Last year, Google released a report which showed that flu-related search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses information about the popularity of some searches in the US to estimate flu activity almost in real-time.
The experiment has been expanded to the searches from Mexico, the country that has the largest number of reported cases of swine flu. "Unlike Google Flu Trends for U.S., Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico was not built using historical data on flu symptoms. This means the models have not been checked against actual historic flu data from Mexico and thus the estimates you see for Mexico are unverified. The models for Mexico are based on aggregated search queries likely to be associated with influenza-like illness."
Google's search data showed that flu-related queries started to become more frequent this month. "Last week, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Google took a retroactive look at its search data from Mexico. And there the team found a pre-media bump in telltale flu-related search terms (you know, "influenza + phlegm + coughing") that was inconsistent with standard, seasonal flu trends," reports Wired. "The system has detected increases in flu-related searches in Mexico City (Distrito Federal) and a few other Mexican states in recent days, beginning early in the week of April 19-25," informs Google's blog.
A map that lists the latest cases of swine flu is available at Google Maps.
The experiment has been expanded to the searches from Mexico, the country that has the largest number of reported cases of swine flu. "Unlike Google Flu Trends for U.S., Experimental Flu Trends for Mexico was not built using historical data on flu symptoms. This means the models have not been checked against actual historic flu data from Mexico and thus the estimates you see for Mexico are unverified. The models for Mexico are based on aggregated search queries likely to be associated with influenza-like illness."
Google's search data showed that flu-related queries started to become more frequent this month. "Last week, at the request of the Centers for Disease Control, Google took a retroactive look at its search data from Mexico. And there the team found a pre-media bump in telltale flu-related search terms (you know, "influenza + phlegm + coughing") that was inconsistent with standard, seasonal flu trends," reports Wired. "The system has detected increases in flu-related searches in Mexico City (Distrito Federal) and a few other Mexican states in recent days, beginning early in the week of April 19-25," informs Google's blog.
A map that lists the latest cases of swine flu is available at Google Maps.
AdSense Reports in Google Analytics
The integration between Google Analytics and Google AdSense is a significant upgrade for AdSense's limited reports. Until now, AdSense didn't offer reports for individual pages and users had to manually create custom channels to track the performance for up to 200 pages.
The AdSense section from Google Analytics includes a lot of new information: the list of pages that bring the most important revenue, the most profitable referrers and you can find even more by creating custom segments.
Here are some things I was able to find from the reports:
* 63% of this month's revenue was from visitors who use IE, even if only 38.42% of the visits were from Internet Explorer users.
* 6.18% of the revenue was from Mac users, even if 10.24% of the visits were from Mac users.
* the visitors that come from Google Search click on the ads less than those that come from Yahoo Search and Live Search.
* new visitors are more likely to click on ads than returning visitors.
Google Analytics blog has more details about the integration and the way you can link your AdSense account with Google Analytics.
The AdSense section from Google Analytics includes a lot of new information: the list of pages that bring the most important revenue, the most profitable referrers and you can find even more by creating custom segments.
Here are some things I was able to find from the reports:
* 63% of this month's revenue was from visitors who use IE, even if only 38.42% of the visits were from Internet Explorer users.
* 6.18% of the revenue was from Mac users, even if 10.24% of the visits were from Mac users.
* the visitors that come from Google Search click on the ads less than those that come from Yahoo Search and Live Search.
* new visitors are more likely to click on ads than returning visitors.
Google Analytics blog has more details about the integration and the way you can link your AdSense account with Google Analytics.
Gmail Runs Faster in Google Chrome
Google continues to inform us that all of its services run faster in Google Chrome. This time, Gmail shows a green bar that says: "Gmail runs faster in Google Chrome".
I'm not sure if Google's promotional video is convincing enough, but users who think that Gmail is slow or not fast enough will be curious to try Chrome.
{ Thanks, Rising Shixi. }
I'm not sure if Google's promotional video is convincing enough, but users who think that Gmail is slow or not fast enough will be curious to try Chrome.
{ Thanks, Rising Shixi. }
Google's Public Data Visualization
Interesting timing. On the same day when Stephen Wolfram shows a demonstration of his knowledge engine Wolfram | Alpha, Google launched a new OneBox that visualizes public data. If you search for [Florida Unemployment Rate], Google shows an answer ("9.5% of the labor force - Not seasonally adjusted - Mar 2009"), the source and a graph that illustrates how the unemployment rate changed over time.
For now, you can only search for data related to the US: for example, California population. When you click on the result, the graph lets you compare California's population with the population for other states.
"Public statistical data, such as unemployment rates or population numbers, doesn't need to be hard to find or, more importantly, hard to understand. Google is making it easier to find and use important public statistical data from governments and other sources. This data is included in Google.com search results and displayed as interactive graphs that you can customize and share with others. If you've ever done research involving large datasets, you know that it can take hours to comb through databases in order to find and analyze trends. Anyone who searches for U.S. unemployment rates or population numbers on Google.com will see relevant statistics and graphs included in their search results. You can even search by state or county (but not by city)," explains the help center.
For now, you can only search for data related to the US: for example, California population. When you click on the result, the graph lets you compare California's population with the population for other states.
"Public statistical data, such as unemployment rates or population numbers, doesn't need to be hard to find or, more importantly, hard to understand. Google is making it easier to find and use important public statistical data from governments and other sources. This data is included in Google.com search results and displayed as interactive graphs that you can customize and share with others. If you've ever done research involving large datasets, you know that it can take hours to comb through databases in order to find and analyze trends. Anyone who searches for U.S. unemployment rates or population numbers on Google.com will see relevant statistics and graphs included in their search results. You can even search by state or county (but not by city)," explains the help center.
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