Microsoft Debuts ‘Power Pages’ Web Designer For Businesses That Don’t Code

Many of us can’t help but judge a business by its website. Is it streamlined and chic, or chock-full of unnecessary information and difficult to navigate? With a company’s website being one of the first stops for customers in this day and age, the impression it gives off has undoubtedly become more important. 

As such, Microsoft is introducing ‘Power Pages’, the fifth addition to its Power Platform collection, which will allow those unfamiliar with coding to design business-centric websites using low-code, scalable, and secure solutions. 

Despite it being low-code, the tool still claims to allow organizations of any size to build top-of-the-line websites with leading aesthetic features, and advanced customization capabilities so it suits specific needs. 

“As a new, standalone product, Power Pages empowers anyone, regardless of their technical background, with an effective platform to create data-powered, modern, and secure websites,” said Charles Lamanna, CVP of Business Applications and Platform at Microsoft.

With the Design Studio, users can choose from ready-to-use templates or come up with one from scratch, populating the site with all the text, images, videos, and forms needed. The Templates Hub offers full-featured websites with demo data, so you can jump headfirst into managing the site’s scheduling, registration, submissions, and more. 

If you happen to get stuck along the way, fret not. The tool’s Learn Hub lets you explore numerous guides and tutorials to guide you along your journey as you configure the perfect site for your business. 

For more advanced developers, the Visual Studio Code allows you to code advanced capabilities using JavaScript, Liquid templates, and web APIs, with functions in place so you can easily download and upload customization projects.

“People often think of low-code web development as being useful for basic projects like sites to showcase a company profile or a blog site. Power Pages is an enterprise-grade platform to build solutions that optimizes business workflow with an external audience like customers, partners, and community members,” said Lamanna.

“With its origins in Power apps portals, from sales to government services, Power Pages is already being used by customers around the world.” 

[via TechCrunch and Microsoft, images via various sources]