I note that the current test version of Google Pages requires Firefox or I.E.; Safari is not yet supported. Pages is, as others have said, a bit like the old Geopages, but only a bit. The Templates are nicer, as is the interface. You can choose a Layout (1/2/3 columns, side bar on left or right) as well as a Template. You can create addditional pages, though there's a 100 MB storage limit. There's a simply to use Page Manager that lets you create new pages and delete them. Publish and Save are separate procedures, there's a Preview took, and a notification tool to let people know your pages are ready.
I think Google Pages is likely to be much easier for a naive user to figure out than other similar online tools. I note that the HTML is not standard (use View Source in your browser to see for yourself). Hard returns generate paragraph breaks. While you do have control over Font and Font style, (the fonts are as you'd expect, the Microsoft Six), and the color of text, the HTML generated by Google uses the deprecated Font tag. The font styles are limited to Bold and Italic, and the actual tags used are Em and Strong. I'd be grateful if they'd provide a Cite tag. I'm quite pleased that Google allows you to directly edit the HTML.
You can use images; there's an insert and upload tool, basic image resizing, and a Link tool. The Link tool uses an exceedingly simple form; you enter a name for the link then the URL for the link. You can link to e-mail address, URLs, local pages or files.
There's an odd error message and feature; I was just told "Another user has ended your editing session" with an option to "Break the lock." Odd that; there shouldn't be another user with my login.