Microsoft Expression Web Upgrade from FrontPage [OLD VERSION]

Customer Reviews

What a great package!

2008-04-03
I thought FrontPage would be hard to beat for ease-of-use. I am startled at how quick the adjustment was. Expression Web has the intention of being much more standards-compliant than FrontPage, so some handy FrontPage features are missing. But CSS can compensate for them, and Expression Web's user interface is so well-designed that even CSS does not seem so daunting.
Speaking of user interface, it seems to me that Microsoft has combined the best features of Visual Studio's user interface and the Adobe CS (e.g. Photoshop) interface (and resisted the dubious "ribbon" thing it introduced in Microsoft Office 2007). Working in Expression Web seems very natural; things are easy to find, highly customizable, there when you want them.
I think I will be able to use this package for a long time.

Hate it - Skip Expression Web

2008-03-26
Hate this program and am shopping around for something to replace it with. I'm not sure why Microsoft had to scrap Frontpage instead of working with what they had and upgrading. I had developed a website design business around that software package in spite of its limitations - and there were definitely some limitations. I will not recommend this product to anyone and I will be converting all of my client websites to a different program... in the meantime they will be maintained in Frontpage while I shop around.

Arrowgem

2008-03-03
I am using Expression web all the time and am very satisfied with it. To view my web site go to www.arrowgem.com It is easy to use. I find it easier than the old Front Page.

Richard Hanson

Microsoft Expression Web Upgrade

2008-02-08
Installed fine with no problems. It did not ask for proof of Frontpage ownership. The differences between Frontpage and Expression Web are huge. The help files lack much in the way of help. Be prepared to order books on how to use Expression Web.

A great addition to FrontPage

2008-01-08
I have been very happy with this software. It's kind of the new FrontPage but they work together perfectly. All my thumbs are up.
C S W

Pleased Customer

2008-05-08
It is a great product, easy to use and fast to start working with it.

migrate from Front Page not so bad

2008-04-27
I watched the quickstart video from microsoft expression http://www.microsoft.com/expression/kc/resources.aspx?type=quickstart and was able to figure basic html changes from front page in a day. After importing I found it better to copy and past text and functions/objects to remove errors into a new page rather then edditing them in the imported page. Imports include errors (highlighted in html)but does make it function without front page extensions. Even then I had to redo it a 4th time because if you copy text it comes with bad code unless you specify text only. The biggest improvement on my site was switching to layers from old style frames. The advantage is when you paste text or art into a layer it is fully drag positional vs a frame. Using Styles (text type and font and color prespecified at the begining) was easy as when ever you define a font it creates a new style and posts the info for you. This can cause a mess of extra code so watch and try to use as few styles as possible rather then creating more and more and then when you redifine the style it change all text using that style even in different locations keeping uniformity. I had to go back through as somehow I got around 25 styles (a fifth time). But now I have an error free compliant website.

A "Must Have" for Expression Web

2008-04-24
A very thorough easy to follow reference manual for Expression Web. The use of hands on examples makes learning how to use this new web design software understandable and easy to design your website the way you want it. The CD of the book and software applications included make this an excellent value. .Special Edition Using Microsoft Expression Web

It Worked for Me, a First time website designer!

2008-04-14
I had never created a website, but with a very rudimentary knowledge of HTML was able to make some slight modifications to an existing website with Notepad. I had looked at purchasing FrontPage, but reviews said that it did not work well with Vista, which I had. Therefore, if I was going to buy any program to create a website, price forced me to Expressions Web. After checking the Microsoft website for EW, I discovered that the "upgrade" version would install if there was any version of Microsoft Office on the computer. For the $99 price, I felt I could not go too far wrong.
The install went extremely easy as I do have Office 2007 on the computer. I read the complete EULA and think that it will actually allow me to install EW on multiple computers as long as only one copy is being used at any given time. (If you want to install it on multiple computers, which I did, be sure to read the EULA.)
Some of the reviews had said that the tutorial did not work. They were right. I discovered that the small tutorial had used the word "click" at one point and it should have been "right click". Once that discovery was made, I was able to complete the tutorial. The written documentation is very skimpy, but it does offer some help to a novice if you read it several times.
There is no wizard program to help you create a website as there is in FrontPage. There are, however about a dozen templates. I wanted to create a new website for my family genealogy association and I needed flexibility in having several links to multiple pages with different topics. I chose a "Business" template that I was able to modify to fit my needs. Without any knowledge of HTML, I would not have been able to make these modifications. I also used the help screens and never found one that had instructions that would work for me. I do not know if the help screens were not accurate, or if the problem was caused by something that I had incorrectly done before I went to the help screen. There were also lots of trial and error procedures, but after about 30 hours on the computer, I was finished.
I did not use EW to upload to the web server; instead I used a separate FTP program. I also had the luxury of uploading my beta versions to a subfolder on the website so that I and others could test it out.
I am giving Expressions Web 4 stars because it was economical to buy, easy to install, gave me no problems while running, and did allow me to create a good looking and very functional website. Now I am going to try and find a good instruction book for the program.

Is this upgrade really worth it

2008-04-13
I bought this product thinking it would be a great upgrade to my Front Page. Boy was I wrong. It is nothing like Front Page and a lot of the short cuts that you learned do not work with this product. The instructions are very much like Front Page - non existent. If your happy using Front Page I would not upgrade to this program unless you like a lot of frustration!