Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Upgrade

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Expression Design 2 lets you create assets and use them with Expression Blend 2 to design user interaction for a new wave of expressive Windows applications
• Adhere to today's Web standards using built-in support for XHTML, CSS, XML, and XSLT; design sites that work on any browser
• Use Expression Media Encoder 2 to enhance and publish rich video experiences for both Windows and Mac
• With support for more than 100 media formats, Expression Media makes managing your digital universe a snap
• Expression Studio 2 brings design and development together--design elements like video, 3D models, and vector art are combined with full support for the latest Microsoft development tools and platforms

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B0013IPGNO
• Item model number: 45887G
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,275 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

Amazon.com

Your ideas deserve room to grow. Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Upgrade sets your creativity free, giving you a suite of tools for designing next-generation applications. From standards-based Web and rich applications designed for the web or desktop to smart digital asset management, you'll see your vision unfoldÉwith style.

Use Expression Web to create modern, standards-based sites which deliver superior quality on the Web.

Expression Design lets you build compelling elements for both Web and desktop application user interfaces.

From Conceptual to Sensational
When inspiration strikes, you need the right professional tools to turn your vision into a reality. Microsoft Expression Studio 2 opens up a new world of creative possibility. With six complete products--Microsoft Expression Design 2, Microsoft Expression Blend 2, Microsoft Expression Web 2, Microsoft Expression Media 2, Microsoft Expression Encoder 2, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition--designers and developers can deliver richer, deeper experiences to customers.

Extend Your Vision to the Desktop
It all starts with an idea, whether you work with sketches or go straight to the computer. With innovative vector-drawing tools, non-destructive effects, and the power of XAML (Zam-al), Expression Design lets you create assets and use them with Expression Blend to design user interaction for a new wave of expressive Windows applications. Finally, you can combine the best of the Web with the full power of the desktop. Your vision remains uncompromised from concept to completion.

Create Sophisticated Sites That Play Well With Others
Adhere to today's Web standards using built-in support for XHTML, CSS, XML, and XSLT. Thanks to Expression Web, it's easier than ever to design sites that work--on any browser. Your sites will render better, be more relevant to search engine indexing, and, ultimately, reach more customers through enhanced accessibility.

Deliver Rich Web Experiences
Light up your Web site with Microsoft Silverlight by using Expression Media Encoder 2 to enhance and publish rich video experiences for both Windows and Mac. And once an asset, always an asset. Reuse elements created in Expression Design to deliver rich Web experiences.

Manage Media Assets With Ease
Organized digital assets give you more freedom to play. With support for more than 100 media formats, Expression Media makes managing your digital universe a snap. Wherever your files are stored, integrated search tools help you find them fast.

Expression Media is a professional asset management tool to visually catalog and organize all your digital assets for effortless retrieval and presentation.

Expression Encoder 2's approachable user interface means its never been easier for designers, editors and producers to generate gorgeous VC-1-encoded content for delivery via Silverlight to the web.

Expression Blend lets you create engaging, Web-connected, user experiences for Windows.

Corral the Power of Design + Dev
When you truly care about your end users' experience, you need to collaborate at every step in the development process. Expression Studio brings design and development together and proves that teamwork pays off. Design elements like video, 3D models, and vector art are combined with full support for the latest Microsoft development tools and platforms.

Work That Really Flows
With the right technology, you're free to focus on your work, instead of managing workflow. Use your talent to do what you do best--be it art direction, graphic design, UI design, or development. Expression Studio 2 ensures your team is working together throughout the design and development process. But when your users deem your product truly innovative, it's up to you to divvy up the credit.

A Complete Creative Toolbox
Expression Studio 2 offers you the features of all five powerful Expression products--plus Visual Studio Standard Edition 2008. From concept to completion, you'll have the tools you need to deliver deep, rich experiences to users' desktops and the Web.

• Microsoft Expression Web 2 gives you all the tools you need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites.
  
  Built-in support for today's Web standards, sophisticated CSS-based layout and formatting, and integration with either ASP.NET or PHP means you can design, develop, and maintain exceptional sites with a lot less time and effort.
  
  
• Think of Microsoft Expression Blend 2 as your virtual playground. Mix design elements such as video, vector art, high-quality text, animation, pixel images, and 3D content with a full toolbox of advanced controls and containers to create engaging, cinematic user interfaces.
  
  Explore the limits of UI design by combining the best of the Web and the power of the desktop with next-generation Silverlight and connected desktop applications.
  
  
• Microsoft Expression Design 2 is the perfect companion to Expression Blend. Leverage existing artwork, or use Design's intuitive and flexible drawing tools to quickly build sophisticated vector assets.
  
  Seamlessly transfer them via XAML to your Expression Blend projects knowing that their fidelity will be maintained throughout the entire designer-developer workflow.
  
  
• With support for more than 100 media formats, Microsoft Expression Media 2 makes managing your digital universe a snap. Wherever your files are stored and whomever you collaborate with you can browse, search, and annotate your digital files, even when your originals are offline.
  
  When it's time to deliver, Expression Media can export your assets in exactly the format and size your clients need.
  
  
• Expression Encoder 2's approachable user interface means its never been easier for designers, editors and producers to generate gorgeous VC-1-encoded content for delivery via Silverlight to the web.
  
  Add simple cuts, titles, pre-roll and post-roll advertising, captions, metadata and more to any clip. Use custom job presets to ensure a consistent user experience and media quality, clip after clip.

The complete range of Expression products in one box. Microsoft Expression Studio opens up a new world of creative possibility. Its professional design tools give you the freedom to make your vision real--whether you're designing standards-based Web sites, rich desktop experiences, or Silverlight content.

Product Description

EXPRESSION STUDIO 2 MAC/WIN ENG

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite a package, June 20, 2008

By 

A. Avrashow "austina" (Bellevue, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Upgrade (CD-ROM)

Version 2 of this suite of programs seems to have smoothed out some rough edges from the first release, as you'd expect.

Blend 2 has helpful verbose tooltips on the various properties you can set in the Properties Panel.

Blend 2 offers Silverlight 1 layout and design, but people who buy Blend 2 or Expression Studio 2 need to get Blend 2 SP1 (free) to be able to create Silverlight 2 applications.

Expression Web 2 is a solid HTML/CSS Web design program. If you edit HTML or web pages, it's as good as any program out there.

Expression Design 2 is a capable drawing program similar to Adobe Illustrator but without as many filters and effects and layer blending modes. Its main advantage is its native file format is XAML so anything you create can be exported for WPF or Silverlight. I've had good luck opening Adobe Illustrator files with it, then exporting them as XAML.

Expression Encoder 2 is supposed to be faster than version 1 and produce better results, according to the training videos on the DVD. The presenter really seems to know video production and the free training videos have whetted my appetite for the full training series.

That brings me to the first extra -- there are hours of free training videos from Total Training on the DVD. They'll give you a quick start on each program. It's a lot easier to watch someone demonstrate something in a video than to read step-by-step procedures in a manual.

The Expression Web training gives a quick tour of the program and new features in version 2. The Expression Blend videos cover a lot of info about how Blend creates WPF content. In fact, the trainer said that basically Blend is a XAML editor. If you are a design person, you'll learn much about the terminology and functionality of WPF. If you're a developer, you'll learn to visualize the XAML code you're familiar with.

The second valuable extra is that Expression Studio includes a free version of Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition. If you don't have Visual Studio 2008, that alone is worth about $200.

If you are a developer interested in learning to develop new WPF and Silverlight applications, this is a full-featured toolkit. If you're a designer interested in developing rich Internet content, this is a cohesive set of design tools.

And if you are a developer with an interest in design or a designer who can dip into code, there's a lot of power available to you in Expression Studio 2.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful set of tools for the web and design, September 11, 2008

By 

Richard Stricker (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Expression Studio 2 Upgrade (CD-ROM)

I purchased the Expression Studio 2 suite of programs a few months ago and have really enjoyed working with all of them. The current version seems stable and useful. The program modules enhance each other and work well together. It has very good documentation for all the programs in the help files. These are advanced programs that take some time to become proficient with but are worth the effort.
I use the Design program with a wacom graphic tablet The user interface is well designed and the tools have a consistent logic. Import and export capabilities are good.
I have found a lot of use for the Media module. This is a powerful, easy to use, photo organizing program. Another feature is the ability to make html galleries for the web. There are several options for gallery designs and they are easy to modify in a web design program.
Studio includes Expression Web, a standards compliant web authoring program geared to using css as the basic design format. Once you get used to the css style of web design the tools and set up of Expression Web make sense.
Studio also includes Encoder which produces a set of files that can be incorporated into a web site to display movie files for the web. By using tools in Blend you can customize the "skin" that holds the movie file.
Blend also allows you to design Silverlight applications to animate the web user-interface. This gets a bit complicated for someone like myself without a strong coding background, but is doable with some persistence.
Expression has a strong future in designing for the emerging rich media interface of the web. I am glad I purchased it and I find powerful new ways of using the tools as I explore the extensive feature set of the programs.