Dan, Qaixen Consultant, discusses the ways to successfully create a simple low-code web site using Microsoft Power Pages in his latest blog:
Website design the low code way
I am not a coder. Nor a web designer. Nor a developer. I dabble. I dabble in these areas occasionally and I have even had some (limited) success using self-taught methods to design simple apps, bringing me a euphoric joy. All whilst knowing that if a truly competent coder were to cast their eyes over my creations, I would be given a condescending pat on the head and be told was I a clever thing. However, what if I had the tools to create a simple, low-code website? What’s more, what if those tools were potentially usable by children, giving them a way of creating a website and beginning to combine it with information from the dataverse? This is where one of the newest members of the Microsoft Power Platform family steps in. Introducing Microsoft Power Pages. A simple way of creating dynamic web sites using low or no code.
What are Microsoft Power Pages?
Microsoft Power Pages contains the basic elements of creating a functional, working website. You can (as of writing) currently sign up for a 30-day free trial – although it should be noted that it is still at the preview stage, so many of the features are either unfinished or not currently available. Once you’ve signed up, you then have access to three different templates which you can develop with relative ease. Having a background in education, I chose the template which gives you a school clubs sign up page. After a few minutes of checking the domain name and set up, I was ready to develop my first website. Power Pages has four distinct tabs: pages; style; data and setup. Let’s go into more detail about what each area does.
Power Pages – Pages Tab
The Pages tab is the design area of Microsoft Power Pages. It easily allows you to add web parts to the page in the same manner as SharePoint or an “item” in Power Apps. This simple and effective way of adding content to a site got my little grey cells thinking, “This is so easy, I bet I could teach this to primary aged children.” After about 15 minutes, I had been able to change a few web parts here and add a few web parts there. After half an hour, I was confidently flicking between pages of the site to make it my own.
Power Pages – Data Tab
Up next was the data tab. This area allows you to connect elements of your site to the dataverse, meaning that if you want to have list or tables of information in your site you can!
Power Pages – Style Tab
The second tab featured is Style, which does exactly what it says.
This tab changes the style, letting you add in your own colour palette to every element of the site.
From the background to colour changes when a button is pressed. Again, the easiness at which this was used astounded my none coding brain.
Power Pages – Setup Tab
Finally, you have the Setup tab which allows you to add in permissions to certain tables within the site. This area I felt was the most under development whilst going through each tab.
Could Power Pages be better?
I think this is a neat little product from Microsoft as it allows someone like me to be able to create simple sites quickly and ensure they interact with the dataverse. This is not to say that everything with Microsoft Power Pages is sunshine and rainbows – you can tell there is still a lot to develop. The setup time was more than a little excessive and without knowing what the future licensing cost will be, I have no idea whether this would be a cost effective solution for schools. Yet knowing what I know about how much schools are charged for websites; it could definitely fill a niche.
The value of Microsoft Power Pages for the Education sector
Where could I see this being utilised in education? Well, I feel that Power Pages would fit into two camps: Camp One would be the day-to-day running of the school. Whereas Camp Two would be direct use in the curriculum. Looking at the first camp, I could foresee Power Pages being used to create a school website, ensuring that parents are kept up to date with the day-to-day goings on of school life.
With integration and access to the dataverse, school support staff would be able to create sign up areas for school events. Maybe office staff want to keep track of which children have which dinners at lunch time or maybe know which staff are away on courses. The site could store school documents that could be accessed by relevant members of staff and finally allow for good governance, not farming that out to an IT company off site.
In the classroom, this tool could be the gateway for a lot of children beginning a career as a web developer or coder. I feel that this would be a great jumping off point for KS2 or KS3 students to begin to understand how data should be kept, why user interfaces and user experiences are so important and how to develop links between what you have designed, and how information is kept securely. In my opinion, I feel that I could use this platform to teach Year 5 or 6 about web development without needing to understand the world of coding or requiring specialised webpage design software that schools may not be prepared to finance. With that thought in mind, I would implore Microsoft to think about whether they could come up with a good way of marketing this to educators without breaking the bank.
Whatever your thoughts are on this, at least give it ago and if anything, allow yourself to take some time to explore what Power Pages currently has to offer. That’s all from me this month – I’m off now to go and design another website.
About Qaixen
Here at Qaixen, we offer a range of bespoke services for teachers to help drive adoption and increase understanding of all the cloud tools, including Power Pages, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint. If you would like to learn more about how Qaixen can help your school, college or university, simply contact us.