Riding the wave of interest in no-code and low-code solutions, Microsoft announced Power Pages, a stand-alone product for creating business websites that is part of the company's Power Platform line.
Using low-code development tools, your organization can streamline business processes and make it easy to automate workflows.
Microsoft Power Pages Launched
Microsoft Power Pages is a secure, enterprise-level, low-code software as a service (SaaS) platform for making, hosting, and managing modern business websites that are visible to the outside world. Whether you are a low-code maker or a professional developer, Power Pages lets you quickly design, configure, and publish websites that work well on all web browsers and devices.
Power Pages makes it easier for organizations to quickly create and manage websites that look great and can be changed in a lot of ways, even without help from IT. It gives organizations rich, customizable templates, a fluid visual experience through a reimagined design studio, and a new, integrated learning hub so they can quickly build sites that meet their unique business needs.
Power Pages improves the portal experience even more by making page creation much more powerful with a visual, low-code model that doesn't require any coding skills at all. This makes it easy for employees or customers to build their own pages, or for IT professionals to customize applications on behalf of their organization. It also has built-in security features, modern design tools, and other customizations that larger organizations need.
Build powerful business websites in minutes
Using low-code, customizable templates, Power Pages can be used to make a site in a web browser. For more advanced needs, Visual Studio can be used instead. The wizard-like interface starts out very simply, but like most website builders, it lets you choose a template that works for your business.
The tool then gives you a URL (you can also use a custom domain), and it can set up a trial Power Apps environment or use the one you already have. After the site is up and running for a few minutes, you're in the design studio, which looks like many other site builders and is where you choose pages, change layouts, and add navigation and other features. Another wizard is here to help people who don't know how to code through the process. You can look through a large number of business-specific templates, such as detailed options for making appointments or signing up for classes.
Then, you can add data from your Dataverse and use a QR code to preview the site on your computer or on your phone. Sites that are generated use responsive design, so they look good on both mobile and desktop.
The sites made with Power Pages do look very professional. You can manage more than one site from a dashboard, just like with Wix and other site builders. There are a lot of ways to learn, from how to design to how to change things with code.
Where Power Pages can be used:
- FAQ Pages
- Enterprise Websites
- Websites about community services (Permitting, Licensing, Grant applications and outage reporting websites)
- Develop websites that deliver 24/7 support for services like warranty registration, support inquiries, and appointments.
- Web apps that let people help themselves
- Support, tracking, and onboarding of partners and vendors
- A site for business partners and vendors that is interactive and based on data.
Advantages of using Power Pages in website development
- You can change the look of your power pages site with just a few clicks in a powerful design studio.
- You can make your own layouts and styles and see how they look as you make changes.
- Change your website without having to learn how to code. This makes it as easy to make a website as it is to make a PowerPoint presentation.
- You can choose from more than a hundred pre-made themes that can be changed and added to fit your brand.
- You can publish your website to the web and have your new site up and running in minutes with an unlimited number of pages and content blocks.
- You can build a site with just one click and then get back to business.
- Make pages that work on all devices and are interesting to look at.
Disadvantages of using CMS in website development
- Dependance on plugins and widgets
Using a CMS to build a website has drawbacks, such as the need for plugins and widgets and hidden costs.
- Hidden cost of plugins and widgets
Users have to rely on plugins and widgets for most of their features, and it costs money to use all of the features.
- Site load speed
The page speed of a web page designed using a CMS is considerably slow compared to many other custom development options.
- Maintenance
It takes a lot of work to keep a CMS site running, from customizing the settings and plugins to installing themes, configuring the site, and adding security updates.
- Not highly scalable
When there are too many software systems and data sources to handle, CMS may not work well with the workflow of the larger ecosystem, so it is important to have a good system in place. Most systems can sustain a limited number of users, once content and traffic increases you will need to customize the CMS system or switch to something more robust.
- Limitation in functional requirements
A CMS system won't be able to keep up with your functional needs if you have a large project with many processes, workflows, and stakeholders.
- Back end functionalities are limited
Since back-end functionalities are not available, API endpoints cannot be exposed. The data and the platform can't be used in mobile apps because of this.
Have questions about Power Pages?
If you want to make changes to your website often, a content management system might make sense. At first, it will take time to learn how the system works. You will also need the plan to make sure that you or your staff keep the site up-to-date regularly. This is because even though publishing the content might only take a couple of minutes, someone has to write, proofread, and resize the images first, which takes time. Many companies choose a CMS system but rarely use it because they don't plan for updates or set aside enough staff.
If you don't plan to change your website often, it will be easier to keep up and host a static site.
Now that you know some of the pros and cons of a CMS system, you can decide if it's right for you. So, the best choice will depend on the needs of your business.
Definity First can help! Leverage our expertise with Power Pages or learn more about personalized static design to improve productivity, UX and UI, and responsive functionalities.
