Build a Power Pages site
Now that we examined the different elements and capabilities of Power Pages, Let’s take a high-level look at the process of building a site using Power Pages.
At a high-level, the process of building a site with Power Pages resembles these steps:
Create a website.
Define the pages.
Select a theme and brand your site.
Connect to Dataverse data.
Secure your site.
While this might be a simplified look, it's accurate. Let’s dive into steps in more detail.
Create a website
Sites can be created from the Power Pages maker portal by selecting Create a site. There are many different templates that you can choose from based on different scenarios or industries. In addition, there are industry templates for:
Government
Education
Financial
Once you select the template you want to use, you need to provide a site name, specify the site address, and language.
It can take from 15 to 30 minutes for your new site to be created.
Use design studio
The main tool that is used to build sites is the design studio. Design studio simplifies the process of creating and modifying site pages, connecting your site to Dataverse, and defining site security. Design studio is broken down into workspaces. Workspaces focus on specific functions like site branding, security, and managing connections to your Microsoft Dataverse instance.
There are four primary design workspaces:
Pages workspace: Allows makers to create, edit the design, and arrange the webpages in your site.
Styling workspace: Used to personalize the look and feel of your site by adding styling and theming to your site.
Data workspace: Allows you to create and modify Microsoft Dataverse tables used in data-driven web applications
Set up workspace: Primary administrative area for side administration and management.
Create Pages
The Pages workspace enables you to design and build webpages that directly within your Power Pages site. Each page can be tailored to your specific needs by using the different no-code and low-code widgets that are available. These widgets include text, image, video, Power BI reports, lists, forms, and others.
When you create a new page, you can apply an existing page template, or you can create your own custom layout.
Brand your site
Organizations often spend thousands of dollars researching and developing their branding. Everything from their logo to the colors they use represent the organization’s brand. Power Pages contains a robust set of themes and tools you can use to style your site to best fit your overall business. There are multiple preset themes you can apply to help you get started, and then apply further customization with Power Pages easy to use styling menu.
The Styling workspace lets you apply global site styles. You can apply corporate branding updates and review the changes in the preview on the right side of the app window. Power Pages includes several preset themes to help get you started. For each theme, you can customize the color palette, background color, font styles, button styles, and section margins.
Connecting to data
Makers often use a database to store records related to business information when creating a site. Microsoft Power Platform's cloud-based data service, Dataverse, stores information like a traditional database, but with added benefits such as security features, analytics, and automation. When working in the Data workspace, makers can create and modify Dataverse tables directly in the design studio by using the Data workspace.
In the Data workspace, a maker can use pre-existing or new Dataverse model-driven app views to build list components. The maker can use pre-existing or new Dataverse model-driven app forms to create basic or multistep form components on pages. These elements can then be used inside your sites. For example, real estate properties forms you create could be used to display real estate properties on your site.
Securing your site
Whenever you're exposing data externally, take the necessary precautions to limit access to authorized individuals. With Power Pages, you can set up different security components to ensure that important data isn't being exposed to just anyone.
The Set up workspace is where you can configure different aspects of your power pages site, such as configuring the authentication providers you want to use and defining different security settings and site visibility settings.
Click-through demo: Build a Power Pages site
In this click-through demonstration, you're guided through the process of building a Power Pages site.