If you’ve ever struggled with keeping your recipes organized during the holiday season, you’re not alone. What if there was a way to combine creativity, functionality, and a touch of festive cheer into one powerful solution? Enter the holiday recipe organizing Power App. In this guide, I’ll show you how to lay the foundation for your app using Power Apps and Canva. Whether you’re here for the tech tips or drooling over the Caesar salad, there’s something for everyone!

What Are We Building?

Let’s set the stage. This Power App will transform how you organize and share your holiday recipes. It uses modern tabs, responsive layouts, interactive galleries, and flyout containers. But don’t limit yourself—these tools can be applied to almost any app! Want to build an app for project management, event planning, or seasonal crafts? The same principles apply.

Here’s how it works: when launched, the app randomly displays a recipe from a data source like SharePoint (though other data options, like Dataverse, work too). You can filter recipes by category (mains, desserts, etc.), sort them, or dig into the details—including ingredients and directions—all with a clean, user-friendly experience.

This episode focuses on the visual foundation—graphics, colors, and setting up an interactive interface. So grab your mouse and let’s get started.

Designing Graphics with Canva

First impressions matter, and that’s true for apps, too. Canva makes it super easy to create polished, professional graphics—even if you don’t consider yourself “artsy.”

• Find Templates: Search Canva for templates. Pro designs are labeled, but free options work just as well.
• Customize Colors: Canva allows you to identify document colors. Copy the hex code, then convert it using a quick Google search to get RGBA values for Power Apps.
• Export Your Graphics: Download designs as PNGs or JPEGs and upload them into Power Apps. Transparent backgrounds add extra flexibility.

In this guide, I’ve created a beautiful background in Canva using these steps, ensuring the design supports our app theme without overwhelming the user experience.

Setting a Color Theme

Forget overwhelming configurations in App OnStart. Instead, use formulas to manage theme colors.

Here’s what I created for this app:

• Primary Color: Used for headers, category highlights, and buttons.
• Secondary Color: For interactive elements like filters.
• Background Color: Keeps the design cohesive and clean.
• Third Color: Used sparingly to add visual contrast.

By assigning these colors as variables, you can reuse them across the app. Need to tweak the color scheme later? Just update the variables—no hunting for hex codes!

Building a Stunning Home Screen

With the design assets ready, it’s time to set up the home screen. This will serve as the gateway to your recipes.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Choose a Responsive Template: Start with the header and footer layout in Power Apps.
2. Turn Off Drop Shadows: They can clutter the design. Removing them keeps the look minimal and sleek.
3. Insert the Background Image: Place it at (X: 0, Y: 0) and set its size to fill the screen (parent.width and parent.height).
4. Set Up Containers: Create a vertical container for the content layout. Add a horizontal container inside for elements you want side-by-side, like icons and categories.

Every detail—from naming your resources to organizing layout elements—makes a difference. Descriptive names help keep your app’s structure clear for you and your team.

Interactive Galleries and Rollover Buttons

What’s an app without interactivity? I’ve designed a dynamic gallery to showcase recipe categories, complete with rollover effects and a sleek design.

Here’s how it works:

• Gallery Setup: Add a blank gallery and connect it to a table. Define properties like title, background image, and order.
• Use Containers: Each gallery item has its own container for elements like the title, button, and image. Containers provide consistent rounded borders—no clunky workarounds needed.
• Rollover Button Effect: Add a button over each title with a semi-transparent gradient. When users hover, the button changes for a smooth effect.

By wrapping everything in flexible containers, the design adjusts seamlessly, no matter the screen size.

A Quick Recipe App Walkthrough

Before wrapping up, let’s quickly review the finished app’s functionality.

• Random Recipe of the Day: Each time the app loads, a random recipe is displayed at the bottom.
• Modern Tabs: Navigate between ingredients and directions within the same recipe.
• Flyout Filter: A click reveals filter options to sort and display recipes by category or other criteria.
• Customizable Data Source: While this example connects to SharePoint, you can adapt it to fit Dataverse or other platforms.

This user-friendly dashboard is a perfect home for all your delicious ideas.

What’s Next?

This was just the beginning! Next, we’ll dive into responsive layouts, more customization techniques, and other advanced features. If you’re ready to take your app-building skills to the next level, stick around for Part 2.

Got questions or want to see more details on this setup? Drop a comment below! Don’t forget to share this with your Power Apps-loving friends. Let’s build some magic, one recipe at a time.

Keep learning, keep tinkering, and I’ll see you in the next episode!