Personalized homepage experience

A personalized homepage enhances user engagement by tailoring content, layout, and interactions based on individual user data or preferences. In Power Pages, creating a personalized homepage can involve dynamically showing content based on the user’s profile, preferences, or behavior. This creates a more engaging experience that feels custom to each user.

Below is a step-by-step guide to creating a personalized homepage experience in Power Pages, focusing on data-driven customization, layout design, and user interactivity.

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1. Identify the Data for Personalization

The first step in creating a personalized homepage is identifying the data you’ll use to tailor the experience. This data can come from several sources, including:

• User profile data stored in Dataverse (name, role, preferences, etc.)
• User activity data from previous interactions with the site
• Behavioral data (e.g., recent actions, clicks, searches)
• External data sources (e.g., CRM, subscription status, interests)

For example, if the user is logged in, you could show content relevant to their role, such as:

• For employees: Show internal resources, HR tools, and announcements.
• For customers: Display personalized product recommendations or relevant offers.

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2. Querying User Data with Liquid Templates

Liquid is a powerful templating language used in Power Pages to dynamically fetch and display content. You can use Liquid to pull data from the Dataverse or other sources to customize the homepage based on the logged-in user.

Example: Fetch User Data from Dataverse

If your user profile data is stored in a Dataverse table (e.g., UserProfiles), you can use Liquid to retrieve specific information:

{% assign userProfile = entities.userprofile[0] %} <!-- Fetch the first user profile -->

{% if userProfile %}
  <div class="user-welcome">
    <h2>Welcome, {{ userProfile.first_name }} {{ userProfile.last_name }}!</h2>
    <p>Your role: {{ userProfile.role }}</p>
  </div>
{% else %}
  <p>Welcome, guest! Please log in to see your personalized content.</p>
{% endif %}

This code checks if there’s a valid user profile and displays a welcome message with the user’s first and last name and their role. If there’s no user profile (i.e., the user is not logged in), it shows a generic message.

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3. Dynamic Content Based on User Preferences

A personalized homepage can display content dynamically based on the user’s preferences or history. For instance, if a user has previously interacted with certain products or services, you can show related content.

Example: Show Recommended Products Based on User Preferences

Let’s assume your users have preferences stored in a Dataverse table (e.g., UserPreferences), and you want to show personalized product recommendations:

{% assign preferences = entities.userpreferences[0] %}
{% assign recommendedProducts = entities.products | where: "category", preferences.favorite_category %}

<div class="recommended-products">
  <h3>Recommended for you:</h3>
  <div class="products-grid">
    {% for product in recommendedProducts %}
      <div class="product-tile">
        <img src="{{ product.image_url }}" alt="{{ product.name }}">
        <h4>{{ product.name }}</h4>
        <p>{{ product.description }}</p>
        <a href="{{ product.link }}" class="btn">View Product</a>
      </div>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
</div>

In this example:

• The user’s preferences are fetched from the UserPreferences table.
• Based on the user’s preferred category, a list of recommended products is displayed.

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4. User-specific Layout and Branding

Customizing the layout and branding based on the user’s profile can help create a more immersive and relevant experience. For instance, an employee might see a different homepage layout compared to a customer.

Example: Change the Layout Based on User Role

You can dynamically change the layout and elements displayed by checking the user’s role. This is particularly useful for portals where you have different types of users (e.g., employees, managers, or customers).

{% if userProfile.role == "Employee" %}
  <div class="employee-homepage">
    <h2>Employee Resources</h2>
    <p>Here are the tools and resources you need as an employee.</p>
    <!-- Employee-specific content goes here -->
  </div>
{% elsif userProfile.role == "Customer" %}
  <div class="customer-homepage">
    <h2>Welcome back, valued customer!</h2>
    <p>Here are some product recommendations just for you.</p>
    <!-- Customer-specific content goes here -->
  </div>
{% else %}
  <div class="generic-homepage">
    <h2>Welcome to our site!</h2>
    <p>Explore our latest products, services, and news.</p>
    <!-- General content goes here -->
  </div>
{% endif %}

In this example:

• Employee users see internal resources like tools, HR systems, and news.
• Customer users see personalized product recommendations.
• General users see basic content like promotional offers or new releases.

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5. Using JavaScript for Personalized Interactivity

Sometimes, personalization isn’t just about content; it’s about interactivity. For instance, you can dynamically adjust the homepage layout using JavaScript based on user actions or preferences.

Example: User Dashboard Customization with JavaScript

You can allow users to customize their dashboard by adding widgets or changing the layout. Here’s a simple example of how you could toggle between different dashboard views using JavaScript:

document.getElementById('toggleDashboard').addEventListener('click', function() {
  var dashboard = document.querySelector('.dashboard');
  dashboard.classList.toggle('expanded');
});

In this example, when the user clicks the “Toggle Dashboard” button, it toggles the class expanded, which could change the dashboard layout or show/hide specific content blocks.

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6. Making It Mobile-Responsive

In today’s world, personalization also needs to be responsive across all devices. Since more users access websites from mobile devices, ensuring that your personalized homepage works well on all screen sizes is essential.

Use CSS media queries to ensure the personalized homepage layout adjusts based on the device:

cssCopyEdit@media only screen and (max-width: 768px) {
  .tile-container {
    grid-template-columns: 1fr;
  }
  
  .product-tile {
    width: 100%;
  }
}

This media query ensures that on smaller screens (e.g., mobile devices), the tiles are stacked in a single column to make the content more accessible.

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7. Optimizing for Performance

Personalized content, especially if it’s data-intensive, can affect the performance of your homepage. Here are some ways to optimize:

• Lazy load content: Only load content when the user scrolls down to it (e.g., using JavaScript or Power Pages’ built-in functionality).
• Cache content: Store personalized data in the browser cache to reduce the number of requests made to the server.
• Use conditional data loading: Only load data based on the user’s role or preferences, avoiding unnecessary requests.