Until a few years ago, you had to write code using a language suited for building web pages to build a website. In the past few years, however, there has been a lot of interest in no-code and low-code solutions that allow businesses to create websites using little to no code. Microsoft has been following this movement closely for the past few years, and they have now released Power Pages. But what is Microsoft Power Pages, and how can you get started?

Introducing Microsoft Power Pages

According to Microsoft, Power Pages is a new enterprise-level product that allows anyone — with or without technical knowledge — to create modern websites. These websites are meant to be data-driven; Microsoft has always said data is the future, and secure enough for modern needs.

Microsoft Power Pages is meant to provide businesses with capabilities they cannot find in other similar tools. Enterprises of all sizes can now use this new tool to create beautiful websites that have a lot of in-build customisation and that support developer workflows.

Why Use Power Pages Over Other Tools?

Many other tools provide similar functionality, so why choose Microsoft’s product? Microsoft says that a key difference between this product and others in the market is its integrations. Power Pages integrates with Visual Studio Code, an IDE from Microsoft, for developers who want advanced features. It also integrates with GitHub for version control, Azure DevOps for automated development workflows, and the Power Platforms command line.

Users can also give access to users depending on their roles. They can control web app firewalls through Azure and collect and share information with website visitors through the Dataverse platforms provided by Microsoft.

Using Microsoft Power Pages

You can create websites using Power Pages on your browser, and to do so you can start with the provided templates. There are templates for registration, app submissions and scheduling as well as a default template for those who want to dig in. The provided design studio gives you the freedom you need to configure, style, and publish pages and layouts. These pages and layouts can contain images, text, videos, lists, and forms.

There is also a “learn” hub that provides tutorials and guides on how to use the new tool. These guides and tutorials will show you how to model business data, build full websites, and work with different code components.

The Workflow

The workflow of using this no-code/low-code solution is pretty straightforward. The wizard you get when you start a project is very basic, and it is where you choose the template you would like to use. Once you do so, the tool will create a URL for you or allow you to choose a custom domain.

Once the site is built, you will be taken to the design studio which is where you work on the granular details of your website. Finish building your layouts, navigation and pages, and you can add the necessary data and preview your website before taking it live.

There is a high demand for no-code/low-code solutions and Microsoft has only taken advantage of this. Their Power Pages implementation looks promising, and we can only wait to see what businesses and developers do with it.