Let’s face it. I’m a Google fanboy. I’m for the total Googlification of my life. I use docs, maps, hangouts, gmail, Chromebooks, Android, and all sorts of other things Google, even Google+. I’ve also built numerous Google sites and have students do the same for class projects. Here is where I’ve recently run into a problem.
I like to embed stuff. All sorts of stuff on my sites. Lately it seems Google has a problem taking embed coded from anything that isn’t from Google. Youtube, Forms, Maps are not a problem but any other code I seem to embed using the iFrame gadget or simply by switching to HTML view and pasting just seems to come up blank. This has been frustrating.
Today I discovered this while perusing the Google help forums. It appears that the issue is not so much with sites, but with the Chrome browser. Apparently Chrome wants any content embedded on your page to have the same security as the page itself. Since Google sites are HTTPS, then any embedded content must also be HTTPS. If you try to embed HTTP content on your site, Chrome will see it as a security risk and not display it. If you are having embed difficulties, here is what I did to “correct” the issue.
- Make sure you have the latest version of Chrome. Go to your Chrome SETTINGS and click HELP. On my Mac, the current version is 30.0.1599.101
- Embed the content you want to embed on to your page in Google Sites. You can use the iFrame Gadget or just switch to HTML view and paste the code where you want it to go. Save your page.
- The embedded content will likely not display, but look up in your Omnibox (where the page URL appears in your browser.) Right next to the bookmark bar, you should see a shield.
- Click the shield and then click “Load unsafe script”
The embedded content should display now. I have not found a setting to always allow this so you will have to keep an eye out for the shield when your pages do not look right. For now at least, it works.
I’ve also had some success in the last few days by manually changing “http” in the embed code to “https”. I don’t think that will work for everything, but it has worked so far for embedding Google Calendars into Blackboard, YouTube videos into Blackboard, and a Shelfari widget into Google Sites.
I’ve tried that too. It worked with Prezi, but not with Symbaloo or some other non-YouTube videos.
Thank you for sharing. I had found this same information and was hoping I was missing something. But you confirmed by suspicions. This is a great solution when you are the only one using the site. However, when creating sites/resources to be used by others this is not a very practical solution. I, too, am a Google fan, and we are a Google Education Apps district, but at this point I am becoming more and more frustrated with the entire embed thing and looking for other solutions. ~Christa
Thanks for this post. My friend created a whole new site using Weebly because her multiple Symbaloo webmixes would not display in her Google Sites page. Her webmixes were a significant part of her computer lab resources and consistently utilized by her students. While I love Google and we are also a Google Education Apps district, so many oddities continue to occur within the Google system(s). It seems that Google is trying to set itself apart from others, but not always in a good or useful way.
Tooo bad!! I am also developing a google site that would be accessed by my students and was having trouble embedding shelfari and also my blog. Realize now that it is a google problem and not mine. I wish this would work!
This may help when using Chrome, but the teacher was building in Firefox and the webmixes would not display. Ah, Google, thou elitist!
Thanks for your information in how to embed a source outside the Google domain. In reality your blog has healed a deep thorn in my ego. I was recently creating a website using Google Sites and hit a wall trying to embed a Meograph from meograph.com. It looked like a simple task because I could practically embed anything if it was part of their links, but it was not so easy with outside sources. I watched too many YouTube videos about embedding in Google Sites, and tried everything that was suggested with similar results. I even looked at Weebly.com as an alternative because I needed to meet a deadline. I was able to circumvent the problem, but I was left with the feeling of an unfinished business. When I saw your blog, I knew immediately that it was going to work even though I was using Firefox as a search engine. Thanks again, I got to keep and maintain my Google Sites page. May I suggest creating a YouTube video explaining the techniques to solve the embedding problem? I am sure that it will reach and help more people like myself.
I can’t insert an Iframe any more … It dosn’t work.
Is there any other way to do that now ?
Thanks,
Ilan
Google is being Google and changing things all the time. This was accurate when I posted it. I have yet not found a postworthy alternative to iFrame.