Microsoft Expression Web [OLD VERSION]

Other products by Microsoft

Product Features

• Professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites that deliver superior quality on the Web
• Seamlessly integrate Web design and development teams with Expression Web and Visual Studio's superior support for XML, ASP.NET and XHTML
• Built-in support for latest Web standards means your sites will be optimized for accessibility and cross-browser compatibility
• Advanced CSS rendering engine lets you make decision making on the fly
• Harnesses the power of ASP.NET 2.0 to transform your sites into dynamic, interactive Web applications

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Note: Gift-wrapping is not available for this item.
• ASIN: B000OOEKLM
• Item model number: UCQ-00476
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 29, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,175 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #9 in	Software > Web Development > Web Page Editors > WYSIWYG
  #10 in	Software > Web Development > Professional Development

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com
The Microsoft Expression suite of professional design tools and innovative technologies will take your creative possibilities to a new level. Whether you are designing standards-based Web sites, rich user experiences on the desktop, or managing digital assets and content, Microsoft Expression applications will help. Microsoft Expression Web is a professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites that deliver superior quality on the Web.

Build and format views of industry-standard XML data using drag-and drop tools for quick visualization.

Design customized views of industry-standard XML data using powerful drag-and-drop tools, and see how your data will look within your CSS site design.

Create CSS-based, XHTML 1.0 Transitional-conforming Web sites by default. View larger.

Generate elegant, modern CSS layouts with state-of-the-art surface design tools. View larger.

New Era, New Tool
Microsoft Expression Web helps you to reduce complexity and ease data integration by using powerful design tools and task panes to quickly incorporate XML data. You can seamlessly integrate Web design and development teams with Expression Web and Visual Studio's superior support for XML, ASP.NET and XHTML. The software is also designed to help you unleash your creative ideas and bring your Web sites to life with sophisticated CSS design features. Visual designers, specialized task panes, and tool bars give you precise control of page layout and formatting. These superior tools will let you build dynamic, interactive pages that harness the power of the Web, and the built-in support for today's modern Web standards means that it's easier than ever to optimize your sites for accessibility and cross-browser compatibility. This all translates to superior performance with the same Microsoft passion about delivering the highest quality and standards possible.

Standards-Based Web Sites
With Expressions Web, you can create CSS-based, XHTML 1.0 Transitional-conforming Web sites by default. This means that you creations will work better across browsers, simplifying deployment and maintenance. You'll be able to configure flexible schema settings to support all combinations of HTML, XHTML, Strict, Transitional, Frameset and CSS 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1 plus browser-specific schemas, and validate your site with compatibility and accessibility reporting and against Section 508 and W3C Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Generating elegant, modern CSS layouts with state-of-the-art surface design tools has never been easier. A sophisticated CSS rendering engine inside gives you the confidence to make design decisions on the fly, and you can even try out CSS styles on the page with drag-and-drop style management and migrate them to a central repository. Typing aids and IntelliSense in the Code View make your process extremely efficient and fast.

Rich Data Presentation and Powerful Server Technology
Using drag-and drop tools for quick visualization, you can build and format views of industry-standard XML data. An XPath Expression Builder allows you to create complex queries, and XSL Transform (XSLT) support gives you the flexibility to present data any way you want. The software can also help you retrieve and present XML data via live RSS feeds that match your site's formatting.

Expressions Web harnesses the power of ASP.NET 2. to transform your sites into dynamic, interactive Web applications. No code data binding is required with the application's integrated support for server and user controls. Expressions Web also makes inserting and configuring ASP.NET controls a snap with the controls toolbox, properties grid, and on-control "action menus," while the ASP.NET Master Pages make site-wide changes quick and easy.


Product Description
Microsoft Expression Web gives you the tools you need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites the way you want them. Bring your Web sites to life with sophisticated CSS design features including visual designers. Create dynamic, interactive pages and sites that leverage the power of the Web to deliver compelling user experiences. Create CSS-based Web sites that work better across browsers, simplifying deployment and maintenance. Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web site design to design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites. Use the controls toolbox, properties grid, and on-control action menus to quickly insert and configure ASP.NET controls Write ASP.NET markup quickly with IntelliSense and tag completion in the integrated design and code surface Take advantage of ASP.NET 2.0 with integrated support for server and user controls & no code data binding, for dynamic, interactive Web applications

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I Know A Little, October 2, 2007

By	Angel "www.OilPaintingsByAngel.com" (Glen Allen, Virginia United States) - See all my reviews

I build my own computers, been acquainted with C+ language, use Photoshop on a regular basis and have become familiar with Microsoft operating systems and Microsoft Office applications beginning with Windows 3.1. I began with absolutely zero website building experience, however; I do think the "intuitive" familiarity with the above helped me to navigate through the learning curve.

Expression Web is definitely a professional web development tool. I cannot compare it to Dreamweaver, because as mentioned above, this is my first time building a website. This is not a cut and paste or "click a template" program. If you know what you're doing in HTML and/or CSS you can build from scratch. From what I've read on blogs, Expression Web does a better job at catching code errors than Dreamweaver. When a code error is detected, EW highlights the code error, explains what the problem is and offers solutions that work, even for a newbie like me (Now isn't that a shocking surprise for a Microsoft product?).

If you don't want to work from scratch, you have options of working with supplied templates, importing a website previously created or importing and modeling a website you've found attractive on the internet. *Note: If you import any other website whether it be you own or another you wish to model, you'll definitely have code conflicts you have to figure out and resolve. This would be true regardless of the web editor used as it's a matter of content not the tools used.

If you're a newbie and interested, this is how I achieved success:
I bought three books and one manual on Expression Web (I know it sounds obsessive but you'd be amazed what one book covers and another leaves out. The ability to cross reference is a must). The books and manual I used covered EW from a complete beginner level to levels intermediate and advanced. The books I worked from were: Expression Web for Dummies (beginner), Expression Web Visual Quickstart Guide (beginner), Foundations of Expression Web (beginner to intermediate) and Using Microsoft Expression Web (QUE manual for intermediate to advanced).

Two to four hours of study a day and I went from complete novice to creating a no "bells and whistles", highly effective website in about two weeks. I am an artist. I paint oil paintings of landscapes as my vocation. You can see the website I created using Expression Web at the website listed at the top of my review.

As mentioned by other reviewers, Expression Web is not without it's flaws. I think it was accurately described when compared to a beta version of a product. These are some of the problems I found: 1) Sometimes resetting the task panes to default did not work. When EW relaunches it sometimes exhibits amnesia and juggles them around into an unpredictable order. Out of the blue it will remember it's defaults and put them where they belong. 2) Often times the meta data files will forget the link attachments to Master Web Templates and CSS Style sheets and you have to manually, page-by-page reset the link attachments. It was laborious enough doing the resets for my forty page website. I'd wait for the 2nd version if I had to create a larger site. 3) In "Site Reports" again the link attachments for Master Web Templates and CSS Style sheets are often not shown. 4) EW does a poor job of FTP transfer of your website to a host server. That's easy enough to resolve using other free third party FTP clients or utilities already built into Windows XP.

The bottom line is, if you're a professional and curious I'd stick with what you're currently using until the 2nd edition comes out. If you're a newbie, the interface is very "intuitive friendly" and the components that need to work work well. As to the bugs... Hey I paid $240 for the Expression Web and Adobe Dreamweaver is $400. The "bugs" I experienced were insignificant and although I'm a beginner I do think that future editions will leave Dreamweaver in the dust. I can later buy an $89 upgrade with the bugs fixed and I'm already familiar with a fine web editor.

Angel

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far superior to Dreamweaver, June 16, 2007

By	K. Young - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been using Dreamweaver for many years and have never used any Microsoft products for website development. After using the trial version of Expression Web for a week, I am now doing all new websites and converting the old ones to Expression Web.
Expression Web interface is clean, clear and more esthetically pleasing than Dreamweaver's. The best thing is the software discover so many coding errors in my existing websites that Dreamweaver just ignored. And it is just so easy to correct these errors because Expression Web tells me exactly where it is and what to do about it. If you care about conforming to the stricter standards of XML and XHTML, there is no better tools for website development than Expression Web.

52 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wait for a 2nd edition, September 27, 2007

By	BleenGrue "Wittispoo" (The Garden, Athens) - See all my reviews

Expression Web (and the whole expression studio) shows promise in one day being the best web design toolset available. But this 1st version is bound to frustrate two types--Front page fans and Vista users.

In regards to the Front page fans--the days of being able to visually design a fully functional professional looking web page appear to be over. CoffeeCup and Sitespinner come as close as anything, but both are very limited. Control of the technologies employed across the web (html,css, flash, ajax, php, dot.net, sql, with plenty more to come) appears beyond the reach of any one product or company. I don't particularly like it. Monopolies have their upside. I would pay dearly for a decent visual web design/development program that was truly WYSIWYG, but having searched for well over two years, I've concluded none exist or are on the horizon. Web developers simply have to accept using multiple programs and text editing for certain tasks.


That said, as a hybrid visual/text web production tool (along the lines of Dreamweaver) Expression web offers a lot. I found its drag-and-drop functionality, its preview capabilities, its css/php integration, its handling of imported objects, superior to that of Dreamweaver. As the expression studio evolves, I can easily see it rivaling/surpassing Adobe design suite in terms of workflow and inter-operability--particularly as it promises better compatibility with the rest of Office.

BUT... the *&^!!! thing is still basically in its beta phase. (Pay $200 to be beta tester!?!). It is seriously buggy and it does not like Vista with Office installed. The help files don't work. It will constantly reinstall and reconfigure itself upon startup. It will crash a lot. I have seen ZERO improvement in these problems over the past 8 months and have tried numerous improvised fixes suggested on web forums without any luck. Microsoft appears to be gearing everything toward a 2nd release of the expression studio that integrates it with its new rival to flash (silverlight), rather than fixing the buggy as heck 1st version. This has been supremely annoying, and likely has soured many of the studio's potential adopters.