Microsoft Expression Studio [OLD VERSION]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Suite of professional design tools and innovative technologies for wide range of design applications
• Expression Web: create the latest, standards-based sites that deliver superior quality on the Web
• Expression Blend: Create engaging, Web-connected, user experiences for Windows
• Expression Design: An illustration and graphic design tool for building compelling elements for both Web and desktop applications
• Expression Media: professional asset management tool for cataloging and organizing your digital assets for effortless retrieval and presentation

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 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: B000OOCM0I
• Item model number: PJS-00001
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 21, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,042 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

Microsoft Expression Studio Mac/Win English DVD DVD a suite of tools for creative designers that gives you the freedom to bring your vision to reality and boosts developer collaboration in the delivery of rich user experiences for the Web Windows Vista applications and beyond.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MS Expression Studio - In a word, WOW. This tool is growing on me!, April 15, 2008

By 

Mark "Technology, Music and Movies" (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Microsoft Expression Studio [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

Microsoft Expression Studio

I am familiar with Visual Studio and .Net, have used it in several languages and different projects. And I also used Frontpage for a while, though I must admit I abandoned it quite a long time ago. So I was reintroduced to Expression Studio by way of being given a copy of Expression Web first Microsoft Expression Web Professional Design Tool. And while I think there is a much steeper learning curve with this product, I am very happy I stepped up to Expression Studio.

First of all, this type of product is going to have a somewhat limited audience. If you just want to create webpages, you should be looking to Expression Web or one of the competing products by Adobe, Macromedia and the like. I can honestly say that Expression Web has enough extras included in it to even create some light apps and easily achieve CSS type functionality.

Now, what if you need to build some front ends for web applications that require more in depth methods and detailed integration of components? Then THIS is the program for you. I am just getting my feet wet with it but they've brought a lot of cool components together here.

In addition to Expression Web, this also includes Blend, Design and Media.
Web - Design web pages and light apps
Blend - Integrate your web pages with web tools and parts
Design - Design graphic pieces easily to use on your pages / apps
Media - Catalog and retrieve your web applets for easy use on different projects

The Design tool is not an Adobe Photoshop level tool, but like all of the Expression Studio pieces it has some time-saving methods included to help you design common elements. Even though I use both Photoshop and Corel for different graphics stuff, this tool is still useful only for the speed of use it provides when it comes to those common picture and button elements.

Of course the Silverlight aspect is still just in its early stages, but so far I have seen a lot of cool stuff made with it. As far as the integration stuff, easier to do basic stuff than Flash. And what's also cool is that you can drill down to the code level and change things very easily. So those who are not hardcore programmers will no longer need to also get Visual Studio to make web apps.

The main con is really the [...] issue. This is about [...] more than the Expression Web product, which is the meatiest of the 4 included tools. There are lots of cool templates included with it. Unless you really want to create completely new templates, you will probably think the Studio product is overkill. Truthfully, many people will get most of what the need with Expression Web. There's no real way to know without trying them out. For me, I wanted to have the full Studio because I saw a cool demo of how to use it and I knew I could save some time with the Blend and Design components.

Like I said, still getting into this but so far I'm glad I did. I loved my Expression Web and now I'm loving this. Hopefully whatever kinks are there will be ironed out in short order.

If you want to try this before you decide on one or the other, you can download an evaluation copy from Microsoft. Just take my advice and work on it for at least 1 or 2 weeks befoe you decide. There's a lot of stuff in here that you should test out.

Enjoy!

2.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good ....but, November 3, 2011

By 

Scott - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Expression Studio [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

It has some nice features if you like to work from code. However, it falls out of activation at the slightest hardware change and there is a bug in the software that makes it extremely hard to re-activate. If you call Microsoft they will charge you $150 to help you re-activate this $100 software. I finally gave up and bought something else.

4 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ms Expression Suite, February 23, 2008

By 

David Crowder "computer geek" (Rowlett,Tx) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Expression Studio [OLD VERSION] (DVD-ROM)

Disappointed in overall product. The Web portion is improvement over FP (overall) The rest is still lacking. I see updat ($) to stay competative with the Adobe Design Suites which are , unfortunenly, vastly superior. and 2-3 times the price. MS, you let me down with this and Vista