An advantageous feature of applications written with the Google Visualization API is the diversity of publishing options. Visualizations can be published as an integrated part of a Spreadsheet or Fusion Tables application or, at the other extreme, as a standalone web application. Being scripted applications, Visualization API apps can go just about anywhere HTML can go.
In this chapter we will cover:
- Sharing with Google
- Publishing from Spreadsheets and Fusion Tables
- Embedding in web pages (including App Engine apps)
Note
It is worth noting at this time that Google Gadgets have not been included in this chapter as an option for publishing visualizations. At the time of this book's publication the future support of gadgets was unclear, with several Google applications depreciating their support of gadgets. That being said, Google Gadgets itself is a publishing option but will not be discussed in detail in this chapter. For more information on the topic of gadgets, informative links are provided at the end of the chapter.
For visualizations integrated into Spreadsheets or Fusion Tables, it is possible to share work with others by using the built-in Google Apps file sharing method. With Google file sharing, visualizations can be private to one or more users, or publicly available on the Web. When sharing a visualization as part of a Google application file, the entire file, and not just the visualization is shared to other users.
In any Google application that allows sharing, the 
button can be found in the upper right-hand corner of an open file or document. To share, click on this blue Share button in either a Spreadsheets or Fusion Tables file.
Sharing with Google applications can be public or private. This section details how to share a Spreadsheet or Fusion Table privately. In this scenario, to share privately means sharing to only a select group of individuals. Additionally, it is worth noting this information is universal across Google applications and thus can also be used to share files other than Spreadsheet or Fusion Tables documents.
Clicking on the blue Share button opens the Share settings window. The Who has access section indicates the overall privacy setting for the document as well as individual user access.
The global privacy setting has three options:
- Public on the Web
- Anyone with the link
- Private
To view or change the overall privacy setting, click on the Change… link. The Sharing settings window will appear. For allowing access to individuals, choose either the Anyone with the link or Private option to keep the file from being openly public on the Web. The Anyone with the link setting is technically publically accessible as there is no sign-in required. However the concept of "security through obscurity" is exercised here, as the link being shared will be somewhat random, not searchable, and assumedly not published on a separate publicly viewable website.
Google documents shared privately allow for individual user access control. From the Sharing settings window, enter the e-mail address(es) of the collaborator(s) in the Add people field.
Directly to the right of the Add people field, select the level of permissions the collaborator will have for the document from the drop-down menu.
Finally, decide if the newly added collaborator should be notified by e-mail of their new capabilities on the document. To notify the collaborator, select the Notify people via email checkbox. Add a personalized message to the notification e-mail if desired. Click on the Share & save button to save the newly configured share settings.
As a final configuration consideration, the collaborator's ability to freely add additional collaborators as well as change visibility options must be explored. On the main Sharing settings window, click on the [Change] link next to Editors will be allowed to add people and change the permissions.
In the Sharing settings window that appears, click on the desired permissions level for collaborators.
Sharing in Google documents is simple but not necessarily the best method of permanently publishing a visualization. This is particularly true when a standalone web page or web-embedded visualization is the goal. Google Docs does offer the option to open the document to all web users, but a specific drawback to sharing in this way is that the Google document itself is openly shared. Google Docs sharing is primarily a method of collaborative sharing to a small group, where as publishing a visualization as a web page is generally more desirable for wider audience viewing.
In general, Google documents can also be openly shared to everyone on the Web. A Google Doc shared to everyone results in anyone on the internet being able to view, comment on, or edit the file, depending on the permissions set. When a Google Doc is shared, anyone accessing the document is manipulating the actual Google file. This approach is useful for large collaborative document efforts, or when comments are desired in Google Doc format. It may, however, not be ideal for sharing to large audiences. Even though access can be limited to view only, an alternative method of sharing the Google Doc file itself is through publishing its content as a web page.