Microsoft Expression Web

Microsoft Expression Web

Expression Web 4 running on Windows 7
Developer(s) Microsoft
Stable release 4 (4.0.1165.0) / June 2010, 7; 19 months ago (7-June-2010)
Operating system Microsoft Windows
Available in English
Type HTML editor
License Proprietary commercial software
Website Microsoft Expression Web

Microsoft Expression Web, code-named Quartz, is an HTML editor and general web design software product by Microsoft. It is part of the Expression Studio suite.

Expression Web can design and develop web pages using XML, CSS 2.1, ASP.NET or ASP.NET AJAX, XHTML, XSLT, PHP and JavaScript. Expression Web 4 requires .NET Framework 4.0 and Silverlight 4.0 to install and run.[1] Expression Web uses its own standards-based rendering engine which is different from Internet Explorer's Trident engine.[2]

Contents

Version history

On May 14, 2006, Microsoft released the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) version of Expression Web. On September 5, 2006, Microsoft released Beta 1. Beta 1 removed most of the FrontPage-proprietary (non-standard) features such as bots (use of FPSE features for server-side scripting), parts, functions, themes, automatic generation of navigation buttons, FrontPage forms, navigation pane to build a web site's hierarchy, and other non-standard features available in CTP 1. The Release To Manufacturing version was made available on December 4, 2006 and the first and only service pack in December 2007.[3] Expression Web does not have the form validation controls for HTML fields like FrontPage, but supports validator controls for ASP.NET.[4]

Microsoft Expression Web 2 was released in 2008.[5] Expression Web 2 offers native support for PHP and Silverlight. No service packs have been released for version 2.

Microsoft Expression Web 3 was released in 2009.[6] Until version 2, Expression Web was the only application in the Expression Studio suite based on Microsoft Office code and dependencies.[7] With version 3, Expression Web was rewritten in Windows Presentation Foundation, in line with the rest of the Expression Suite, without Microsoft Office dependencies. A result of this was features like customizable toolbars and menus, standard Windows color scheme, spell check, DLL addins, file menu export feature, drag-and-drop between remote sites, comparing sites by timestamp, automatic language tagging, basic macro support were removed in this version.[7][8][9][10][11][12][13] Other features like Undo do not work reliably.[14][15] Version 3 introduced Expression Web 3 SuperPreview tool for comparing and rendering webpage in various browsers. Also noted was the lack of support for root relative links, links that start with a "/" to refer to the root of a web server. This feature was added with Expression 3 Service Pack 1.[16] Service Pack 2 for Expression Web 3 was released in April 2010.[17]

Microsoft Expression Web 4 was released on June 7, 2010.[18] It added the option of HTML add-ins, and access to a web-based SuperPreview functionality, for testing pages on browsers that cannot be installed on the user's system (such as Mac OS X or Linux browsers). Microsoft Expression Web 4 also provides an SEO Checker which analyzes produced web site against the best practices for getting the highest possible search-engine rankings.[19] Version 4 does not bring back all the features removed in Version 3.[20] Expression Web 4 Service Pack 1 was released in March 2011 and added support for IntelliSense for the HTML5 and CSS3 draft specifications in the Code editor, HTML5 and CSS3 support in the CSS Properties palette, selected CSS3 properties in the Style dialogs, semantic HTML5 tags in Design View and new PHP5.3 functions.[21] Expression Web 4 SP2 was released in July 2011, and fixed a number of issues and introduced new features such as jQuery IntelliSense support, a panel for managing snippets, Interactive Snapshot Panel, comment/uncomment functionality in Code View, and workspace and toolbar customization.[22]

Reception

Microsoft Expression Web received positive reviews. PC Pro awarded Expression Web 2 five stars out of six. "It largely succeeded by concentrating on providing standards-compliant support for the web's core markup languages, (X)HTML and CSS," Tom Arah concluded.[23]

PC Magazine also rated Expression Web 2 with 4 stars out of 5 and labeled it as a more cost-effective option compared to the main competitor, Adobe Dreamweaver. "Even if money is no object, Expression Web 2 might be your better choice," Editor Edward Mendelson wrote.[24] However, PC Magazine criticized a lack of “Secure FTP in its Web-publishing functions” and “the ability to create browser-based (as opposed to server-based) scripting of dynamic pages that works in all browsers, including Safari”. On the other hand, PC Magazine noted that “most designers won't care about their absence”.[24] However, Microsoft Expression 3 later added support for SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) (otherwise known as Secure FTP) as well as FTP over SSL (FTPS).[25]

Releases

Releases of Microsoft Expression Web
Version and Build Date
4017.1004 CTP 1 May 14, 2006
4518 RTM December 4, 2006
2008.1200.4518.1084 RTM May 1, 2008
3.0.1762.0 EW 3 English Lanaguage
3.0.1773.0 EW 3 Non-English languages
3.0.3813.0 EW 3 with SP 1 installed ( Nov 19, 2009)
4.0.1165.0 RTM June 7, 2010
4.0.1241.0 EW 4 with SP 1 installed (March 17, 2011)
4.0.1303.0 EW 4 with SP 2 installed (July 7, 2011)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Web System Requirements". Expression Web website. Microsoft corporation. http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Web_SysRequirements.aspx. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  2. ^ Mauceri, Rob (April 16, 2007). "Office Live and SharePoint". Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team Blog. Microsoft corporation. http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2007/04/11/office-live-and-sharepoint.aspx#comments. Retrieved August 23, 2010. "SharePoint Designer doesn't use Trident. SharePoint Designer, Expression Web, and the next version of Visual Studio's Visual Web Designer (code name Orcas) all use the same standards-based web design component. This component was developed jointly by the three product teams for high fidelity rendering of web standards like CSS, XHTML, as well as ASP.net." 
  3. ^ "Microsoft Expression Web Service Pack 1 (SP1)". Microsoft.com. 2007-12-08. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=4c840d64-c95a-4328-9d80-47dc681741ad. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  4. ^ "Use ASP.NET Validation Controls in Expression Web". Expression.microsoft.com. http://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/cc265139.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  5. ^ Kyrnin, Jennifer (September 26, 2008). "Microsoft Expression Web 2 Review". About.com. The New York Times Company. http://webdesign.about.com/od/expressionweb/gr/expression_web2.htm. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  6. ^ James, Justin (September 1, 2009). "Review: Microsoft Expression Web 3 HTML editor". TechRepublic. CBS Interactive Inc. http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/products/?p=674. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  7. ^ a b "How to customize Toolbar Icons in Expression Web 3". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/b656a8e6-6e3d-45ff-b045-92192416ec8b. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  8. ^ "Expression Web 3 File Export Function Missing?". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/web/thread/8db494b5-0a09-46c8-ba36-837513d4e4a7. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  9. ^ "Why I can't copy files between two sites on Expression Web 3?". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/c6457d2d-e27a-4f9d-b186-cd03d999c58c. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  10. ^ "Using timestamps to compare if remote website has changed (EW 3)". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/c75bc021-fa4b-47b5-a7d2-9ad8f88b217e. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  11. ^ "Has Expression Web a future?". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/c4bbb7c7-658e-4bce-b7bf-e5a27171433f. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  12. ^ "Using Microsoft Expression Web for Non-English Sites". Tlt.its.psu.edu. 2011-05-11. http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/web/tips/expressionweb.html. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  13. ^ "Cannot figure out how to create macros in Expression Web". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/web/thread/e6d91a21-dd3e-4bf8-8a0e-efc4f20a68cb. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  14. ^ "Expression web 4 undo is broke. When will it be fixed?". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/6d44838d-ef0d-4d09-bb2a-6ceb7706123f. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  15. ^ "Buggy Undo still present in EW4". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/web/thread/72fec1d8-3cf0-4d66-b92c-94b3008bf720. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  16. ^ Moscinski, Todd (April 26, 2010). "Different types of hyperlinks". Microsoft Expression Web team blog. Microsoft corporation. http://blogs.msdn.com/xweb/archive/2010/04/26/different-types-of-hyperlinks.aspx. Retrieved August 25, 2010. 
  17. ^ "Microsoft Expression Web 3 Service Pack 2 (SP2)". Microsoft.com. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=4e80cbeb-a206-400f-bf7b-e8d51acbc76e. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  18. ^ Wilson, Jeffrey L. (June 8, 2010). "Microsoft Launches Expression Studio 4". PC Magazine (PCMag.com). Ziff Davis Inc. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2364798,00.asp. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  19. ^ "What's new in Expression Web". Microsoft Expression Web product page. Microsoft corporation. http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Web_Features.aspx. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  20. ^ "No ability to customize toolbox in Expression Web 4?". Social.expression.microsoft.com. http://social.expression.microsoft.com/Forums/en/web/thread/1a9ea5b5-3615-4ad3-ba70-67cea332c747. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  21. ^ "Description of Expression Web 4 Service Pack 1". Support.microsoft.com. 2011-03-21. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2519900. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  22. ^ Description of Expression Web 4 Service Pack 2
  23. ^ Arah, Tom (May 16, 2008). "Microsoft Expression Web 2 review". PC Pro. Dennis Publishing Limited. http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/197913/microsoft-expression-web-2.html. Retrieved August 24, 2010. 
  24. ^ a b Mendelson, Edward (August 11, 2008). "Microsoft Expression Web 2 Review & Rating". PC Magazine (PCMag.com). Ziff Davis. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2319674,00.asp. Retrieved May 16, 2009. 
  25. ^ Leeds, Chris (July 2009). Secure FTP in Expression 3 "Expression Web 3 FTP Publishing". Microsoft Expression Newsletter (Microsoft corporation) (July 2009). http://expression.microsoft.com/en-us/ee307360.aspx Secure FTP in Expression 3. 

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