How to Use Google Drive as a Free Web Hosting Solution ~ IElm0D

Sunday, October 26, 2014

So many people are looking for a reliable free web hosting and yes, there are several web hosting companies that provide free web hosting with tempting features like 99% uptime and unlimited bandwidth. It is really hard to choose the right web hosting company because their features are so similar and after some time most of them are either disappearing or suddenly selling commercial web hosting only.

Thanks to Google, on November 28, 2012, Eric Gilmore announced that Google Drive is getting support for site publishing. All you need to do is store your HTML, CSS, JavaScript and image files into a public folder and then set the folder's sharing settings to "Public on the web", so everyone can access it. I believe that using Google Drive as a free web hosting should be more reliable since your site will get served through Google's own data centers.

If you are not willing to pay for web hosting, but you want a reliable host for your site, the Google Drive site publishing feature is the answer. Here's step by step guide to use Google drive as a web host:

Step 1:
Login to your Google Drive account > Click Create > Select Folder

Step 2:
Name the folder > Click Create

Step 3:
Select the checkbox next to website folder > Click Share icon

Step 4:
Click Change

Step 5:
Select Public on the web > Click Save > Click Done (Please make sure Can view selected)

Step 6:
Click on the website folder's title

Step 7:
Click upload icon > Files

Step 8:
You can select all files > and then click Open

For sub-folders, you have to create it manually in Google Drive.
You can create the website all by yourself or just search in Google "Free HTML Website Template"

Step 9:
The items will have the same sharing permissions at the selected folder > Click Upload and share

Step 10:
Now, you have to figure out your new website address, open website folder > copy the string characters after #folders/

Step 11:
Open a new browser tab > paste that string (folder id) into the address bar after https://googledrive.com/host/
And everyone on the internet can access your new website using that address.

Example: https://googledrive.com/host/0B47Pdqj--olfeExfdXhLSEktSTg/
Template that I use for example can be downloaded here
Learn how to use your own domain name (custom domain) on Google Drive hosted website
How to create a contact form for Google Drive hosted website
How to Host JavaScript or CSS Files on Google Drive

Now your website is ready. You can add or edit your website directly from your Google drive account (http://drive.google.com). If you found this article helpful, then please share it with someone else by using the buttons below. Thank you!

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