Expression Web is an HTML editor or program that is used to design and create web pages. It was developed by Microsoft and was a successor to FrontPage. It is a feature-rich editor packed with loads of functionality. Here, web pages can be created using different programming languages like ASP.NET, JavaScript, PHP, CSS, XML, HTML and XHTML. In order to function properly it requires you to also install Microsoft .NET Framework and Silverlight. The latest version is Expression Web 3.
Although Expression Web can be used by different programming languages, it works best with ASP.NET and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). The editing screen in Expression Web is an amalgamation of Dreamweaver and Microsoft Office. The toolbars present at the top of the application is similar to those found in MS Word. The editing pane takes its inspiration from Dreamweaver.
Expression Web integrates quiet well with programs like Photoshop and Visual Studio. Transferring of files can be done using secure FTP. It includes the Expression Encoder that you can use for video conversion. The Expression Encoder also allows you to edit your videos and deliver those videos in Silverlight. It has a WYSIWYG editor. You can quickly and easily drag and drop ASP.Net objects on to your form. Using Expression Web you can also make sure that your website adheres to the accessibility guidelines deployed by W3C. The workspace is very flexible, and it is easy to install.
One very notable strength of this program is that the rendered web pages are very accurate. This means that you don’t need to frequently preview your web page after editing it. It will appear as it is on the editing tab, no matter which browser you use.
However, given all these plus points it does have a few shortcomings. It seems to have been built for developer by developers. Expert programmers will find this software very easy to use. Intermediate programmers will also do well, but beginners will find using this software difficult. In this case it will have a very large learning curve. The beginners will take a lot of time to learn how the software works, what all functions are available in it and how to navigate through the software. You will need to think like a programmer from the get go and know and plan exactly what you want to accomplish. Once mastered it is an enjoyable software to work with.
An in-program manual as well as printed manual is included in Expression Web to help you out. Online and phone support along with video tutorials on the software are also provided by Microsoft. Expression Web gives out a newsletter regularly updating its users of any new information about the program.
