Microsoft Expression Web [OLD VERSION] :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

MS Expression Web - Best Bang For Your Web Programming Buck

2008-05-23

I was introduced to Microsoft Expression Web Professional Design Tool and have used it for almost a year at this point. While I have since stepped up to the much steeper learning curve and more archaic add-ons included in Microsoft Expression Studio, Expression Web is still the heart of this product and the best value out of all the components of Studio.

Everybody talks about Expression Web in terms of Frontpage, Dreamweaver, GoLive and the like. Actually this is more of a bridge product between those WSIWIG web page layout tools and something more like Visual 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.

If you just want to create webpages, Expression Web or one of the competing products by Adobe, Macromedia and the others should be your choice. 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. Plus, there are tons of cool templates and pre-built roll-overs that make nice features very easy to achieve, and easy to enhance with basic programming knowledge.

Now if you need to build some front ends for web applications that require more in depth methods and detailed integration of components then Expression Studio is the program for you. In addition to Expression Web, Studio 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

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.

Expression Web is priced right and is the meatiest of the 4 Studio 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.

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.

I love my Expression Web and now I'm loving Studio. And the best part is that if you get it before the end of June you get a free upgrade to version 2.0.

Enjoy!

Wish I had spent the money first elsewhere and saved it here

2008-05-13
I spent the money and I am not stupid but this I was not able to master so I paid a professional. Doesn't mean I won't continue trying but not friendly like I thought.

I hate it.

2008-01-31
I've been publishing websites since 1998, first using FrontPage1998, then switching to Yahoo's SiteBuilder. I bought Expression, feeling like I needed to step up to "standards-based" web design tool.

After three weeks of work, including studying "Expression Web for Dummies" and "Using Microsoft Expression Web," I am NO closer to figuring out how to put up a decent looking web page. The tutorial CD that came with the package didn't work either, which should have been a clue.

I have had no luck figuring out how to "float divs," or get CSS to lay out in columns, or any such things. The stuff I have been able to do is no more than I would have been able to do it SiteBuilder, which is free.

I loved the old FrontPage because it was intuitive. You didn't have to dig and dig and risk spraining your brain to figure it out. SiteBuilder is a solid tool, though. If I could get my money back from this, I would.

What a disappointment!

This is idiot proof

2007-12-23
Hey, I test ran all the products, free and otherwise by downloading the full trial versions. Keep in mind, I have been limping along using Microsoft Publisher 2000 to create and maintain my website, seriously, this should tell you what a complete novice I am!! After attempting to use Adobe's Dreamweaver, and then using this product, I have to admit, this product is pretty much idiot proof. I still know nothing about html, or any other thing on this product as of yet (I have not even watched the tutorial video that came with it yet), and I have created a new website design from scratch for my site. This is definately worth the money. I have spent 7 years using Publisher 2000, so I figure for the money I spent on this, if I get that kind of longevity out of this product, it is money well spent.

What a step down from Frontpage!

2007-11-27
I'm very disappointed in the new Expression Web from Microsoft. I've been using it for several months now, and thought I needed a book because I was having trouble finding things (like the list of templates Front Page provided). It turns out that they were never there in the first place! This program has less than Front Page (its predecessor) and is much more complex to use. I might as well get with the professional web designers and switch to Dream Weaver. Boooooooo Microsoft!

Too Professional!

2007-10-24
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

I Know A Little

2007-10-02
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

Wait for a 2nd edition

2007-09-27
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.

Far superior to Dreamweaver

2007-06-16
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.