Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)For the cost of this package, you get Expression Web 3, Expression Design 3 and Expression Encoder. You simply can't get this kind of value anywhere else. This is especially true if you want to create asp(.)net pages because you can also download the free Visual Web Developer Express program that will make it easier for you to code your back end code.
Expression web 3 has a great design preview compared to Dreamweaver CS3 (the version I currently use). In Dreamweaver CS3, css layouts look horrible, whereas in EW3, you get a pretty accurate representation of what your page will look like. When you want to take a good look at the way your page will appear, you can use EW3's Super Preview, which will show you what your site will look like in different browsers (inluding IE6).
Admittedly, I still prefer Dreamweaver's property box and CSS editing tools over EW3, but this is what I have been using for years. Now I have to use Expression Web 3 because I am transitioning from classic ASP to asp(.)net which Dreamweaver CS3 doesn't really support and CS4 doesn't support at all. The advantage to my switching is that the design view in EW3 is superior and it supports master pages which is so absolutely superior to dreamweaver templates it is not even funny. Finally, I can make a change to the template (i.e. master page) and the changes will automatically appear on ever page without me having to update and upload all child pages. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense if you've never used master pages or dreamweaver templates, but the difference is with asp(.)net master pages you can change a template and upload 1 new file. With Dreamweaver templates, you have to upload ever page that was tied to that template every time you make a change. If you have 100 pages tied to a template, you can see the hassle.
In this package you also get Expression Design which is a program for graphic editing and supports vector and raster editing. I suppose it is similar to Adobe Fireworks (which I really like). If you don't already have Fireworks, then I am sure Design is great. I like Fireworks and already own it so I am not bothering too much with EW Design.
For full disclosure I think Adobe's web products are great, but they are expensive and dreamweaver doesn't support the advanced features of asp(.)net so Expression Web is where it is at if you do asp(.)net (EW3 also supports php).
For the price, you can't get a better web development package. Make sure you download Visual Web Developer Express edition along with all the cool tools that go with it and it makes an excellent compliment to everything in EW3.
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Microsoft Expression Web 3.0Deliver visually compelling, standards-compliant Web experiences with Expression Web 3. Whether you're an expert or just getting started, building standards-based Web sites is faster and easier.
Buy Microsoft® Expression® Web 3 now* and upgrade to Expression Web 4 for free when it becomes available. Once available, simply go to www.microsoft.com/expression and download version 4. * You must be a licensed user of one of the following products (excluding free trials) to be eligible for the upgrade versions.
Any Microsoft® Expression product
Any Adobe Creative Suite product
Any Microsoft Office product
Create compelling Web sites visually If you think and create visually, use the state-of-the-art design surface to layout your Web page. You can make design decisions on the fly, knowing that you're seeing a faithful representation of the final browser-rendered page.
Drag and drop controls simplify adding rich media, such as Silverlight from Microsoft Expression Blend, Silverlight video, Adobe Flash, and Windows Media. And advanced Adobe Photoshop file import gives you complete control over imported layers and transparency.
Create standards-based Web sites more quickly and easily If you think and breathe code, Expression Web has you covered there too with flexible support for a wide range of essential technologies: PHP, HTML/XHTML, XML/XSLT, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET and ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight, Flash, Photoshop files, and video/audio for webcasting.
Expression Web speeds the essential task of cross-browser debugging. With SuperPreview, you don't need a Web service to debug your pages on the same machine that you use for development. SuperPreview not only shows a high-fidelity rendering of how pages will look on different browsers, but it also identifies the element's tag, size and position, applied styles, and location in the DOM (Document Object Model) tree so you can quickly fix the error.
Once you've identified an error, Snapshot Preview helps you fix it faster. By displaying a high-fidelity browser rendering that updates as you edit your code, Snapshot Preview saves you the time and effort of loading the page in a browser for each code change.
If you're a designer or developer, use Expression Web to do what you do best. And if you're part of a diverse team, sharing an Expression Web project has never been easier thanks to seamless integration with Expression Studio and Visual Studio.
Expression Web 3 also includes the following full applications:
Microsoft Expression Design 3 is the perfect companion to Expression Web. Leverage existing artwork, or use intuitive drawing tools to quickly build sophisticated vector assets. Seamlessly transfer them to your Expression Web projects knowing that their fidelity will be maintained throughout the entire designer-developer workflow. For more information about Expression Design 3, click here.
Microsoft Expression Encoder 3 encodes a wide array of video file formats so you can stream live video from webcams and camcorders or screen capture your PC. Make simple edits to video files and enhance your media with overlays and advertising. Choose encoding settings, choose from a range of player templates and publish rich media experiences with Microsoft Silverlight.
Deliver visually compelling, standards-compliant Web experiences
Professional Code Editor IntelliSense and color-coding for HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP make your editing and debugging more productive. And, real-time standards validation provides instant feedback on standards violations so you can make corrections as you code.
Professional Design Surface Generate elegant, modern CSS layouts with state-of-the-art design surface and the ability to directly manipulate positioning, sizing, margins and padding. With Expression Web's sophisticated CSS rendering engine, you can make design decisions on the fly and see a faithful representation of the final browser-rendered page.
Visual Diagnostics Debug your pages in multiple browsers on the same machine that you use for development with SuperPreview. And Snapshot Preview provides a high-fidelity browser preview that updates live as you edit your code, saving you the time and effort of loading the page in a browser for each code change. The CSS properties palette visually displays the CSS cascade, enabling you to quickly see all of the styles that the current selection in your web page uses, the order of precedence of those styles, and all of the properties and values of those styles.
Broad support for Industry-Standard Technologies With support for a broad range of scripting and server-side technologies, Expression Web provides the flexibility you need. Expression Web supports PHP, HTML/XHTML, XML/XSLT, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET or ASP.NET AJAX, Silverlight, Flash, Windows Media, and Photoshop as well as integration with Microsoft Visual Studio and Expression Studio.
Broad Web Standards Support Built-in support for today's modern Web standards makes it easy to optimize your sites for accessibility and cross-browser compatibility. Choose any schema you want - HTML, XHTML, Strict/Transitional/Frameset and CSS 1.0, 2.0, or 2.1--Expression Web 3 will help you build appropriate code with a compatibility checker that highlights non-conforming elements.
Build Dynamic Interactive Sites Whether you're building a site rich with video, audio, or animation, Expression Web makes it easy. You can easily add Silverlight, Flash, Deep Zoom or Windows Media files with drag-and-drop controls.
Create Professional Graphics for Your Site Powerful vector drawing and editing tools in the included copy of Expression Design let you explore new artistic possibilities and create compelling graphic designs and illustrations. Integrate vector artwork and bitmap images in the same document to create hybrid compositions that you can import in part or in whole into Expression Web. Use Expression Design's sophisticated slicing capabilities to create web-ready graphics.
Encode Silverlight video for Web streaming Quickly encode and insert high-quality WMV, VC-1 and H.264 Silverlight video into your Web site with a wide range of encoding and transcoding features with the included copy of Expression Encoder.
Publishing Flexibility Choose the FTP method for publishing your site, whether FTP, SFTP, or FTPS, depending on what your Web server requires. When you click Publish, Expression Web automatically transfers several files at a time, instead of transferring them one by one, and it transfers them faster. You can easily manage multiple sites and remote locations and you can publish a site to multiple destinations. Also, Expression Web can do "live" on-server edits via FTP, which saves time and cost, while also reducing errors.
Import Photoshop files Expression Web can import Photoshop files directly with complete control over transparency, the layers imported and the converted image format (PNG, GIF, and JPEG). Expression Web remembers your layer and format settings so that you can quickly reimport to reflect any changes to the Photoshop original.
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