How to setup a small static page on Google Apps?

Question

I've bought/registered/verified a domain with Google Apps, setup an email etc. so far so good. Everything works.

How to now setup/host a small static page (plain HTML saying "Soon! :)" or something), on that domain using Google Apps?

Answer 1

Since Google Apps is now setup, you'll want to activate Google Sites on the domain. You can associate a specific URL with your Google Sites location (such as www.yourdomain.com). There is plenty of help documentation available. Here are a few:

• Google Sites Help
• Creating a Site
• Map a site to your own URL

Answer 2

Google App Engine (GAE) was designed to serve dynamic pages, but it is possible to set it up to serve static content:

1. Install the GAE SDK for your platform.
2. "Create New Application..." from GAE Launcher.
3. Create a sub-folder named 'static' in the project directory that was created in step 4. Put your static content (HTML + JS + CSS + image files) in this folder.
4. Edit the app.yaml file in your GAE application folder like the example below.
5. Optionally test your app works locally.
6. Publish your app to GAE following their instructions.

Note these instructions are for GAE 1.4.3; some details may have changed with the new 1.5.0 version.

---

app.yaml:

application: YOUR_GAE_APP_ID
version: 1
runtime: python
api_version: 1

handlers:
# maps requests without filenames to requested/path/index.html
- url: (.*)/
  static_files: static\1/index.html
  upload: static/index.html

- url: /
  static_dir: static

Alternatively, for a temporary "coming soon" page, it may be sufficient to simply start with the default app.yaml and configure the custom (404) error responses to serve the "coming soon" page. Make sure the app's root index page is not handled/cannot be found.