Justin Rosenstein, who is the Product Manager of Google Page Creator, writes about it on the Official Google Blog today:

“My mother wanted a site for her law practice that potential clients would find when they Googled her. My professor needed a place on the web where he could post assignments and readings for Psych 131. My friend Casey was excited about creating an online encyclopedia of Big Lebowski trivia. All of them wanted simple web pages that looked great, but none of them wanted to take the time to learn HTML, wrangle with complex tools or shell out cash for a designer.”

Well, to cut a long story short, the 20 percent free creation time allowed to workers at the Googleplex paid off:

I gathered a team of engineers and designers passionate about using their 20% time to make it easy to publish useful, attractive web pages.

After many months of focusing on designing a product that our friends and families would enjoy, and politely coaxing web browsers into doing things they were never meant to do, we’re happy that “Google Page Creator” is now part of the Google Labs family.

Read the whole post.