Create modern, standards-based sites and Web applications A professional design tool to create modern, standards-based sites and Web applications that use ASP.NET or PHP, Microsoft Expression Web 2 is available either separately or as part of the full Expression Studio 2.
Microsoft’s Expression Web 2 is for the technical savvy minded individual. Below is a snapshot of what you will see when the program is first opened, this is your welcome screen.
Microsoft Expression Web 2 Ratings:
Capabilities of Software: 8.0
User-Friendly (Ease of Use): 3.5
Expression Web Welcome Screen. Click for larger image. (Opens in New Window)
I am going to list the benefits first followed by the negatives second. As you will see the positives will be about the sophistication of this software and the negatives will generally be about its ease of use.
Positives:The positives of the software is its ability to make pretty sophisticated web pages. You can include videos, create sitemaps, animation sources, etc.
An example of a pretty looking website created from Microsoft Expression Web 2 is http://www.homebusinessinternetproducts.com. As you can see on this website the templates you create can be very clean and professional looking. Now remember you have to have a good understanding on how to use html and php coding if you want your site to be at its maximum.
If you are an expert with Microsoft’s earlier web design software (Front Page) this might be a worthwhile investment.
I am not going to get into too much detail here. The key point I am trying to make is this software is very powerfull but alot of the search engine optimization techniques is strickly up to you.
Negatives: The negatives is the great amount of time you will have to put into this software. Not only does it take a long time to learn, but also the website building aspect of it can take a long time as well.
As far as the SEO part of it, you will have to pretty much figure it out on your own.
Do I recommend using Microsoft Expression Web 2?
Yes and No.
Yes, if you are already an advanced website designer and you are also pretty knowledgeable when it comes to SEO. If you don’t have a fear of using and creating CSS files and can work pretty confidently in your websites source code (the part that shows all the html and PHP scripts).
No, if you have very limited or no website design capabilities and don’t have the time to learn it. For those of you that fall into this category definitely use XSitePro.
At the end of this article I have added a list of recommended reading. You will have to definitely grab one of these books as Microsoft’s help menu is pretty limited and confusing.
Here is a list of the key features for this software:
- CSS layout: Separate design from content with Cascading Style Sheets-the complex technology that’s behind today’s modern sites.
- CSS style application: Choose between automatically generated CSS styles or generate them manually for absolute control over the type of rule created and its precise location. The choice is yours.
- Property task pane: See at a glance the full range of CSS and tag attributes available to you from either of the property task panes.
- Standards-based site design: Expression Web builds sites to XHTML, CSS, XML, and XSLT, making sure your pages are compliant throughout the design process.
- CSS site templates: Jump right in with Expression Web’s professionally designed, standards-compliant site templates in a broad range of categories.
- CSS management: Get a visual overview of where CSS rules are created, where they’re located, and their application order with Expression Web’s industry-leading CSS management tools.
- Rich data presentation: Simply drag and drop an XML file and it’s immediately rendered by an XSL stylesheet that you can reformat to match your site’s style. Now you can include, filter and sort and style data from any XML source easily.
- Minimum Requirements
- Processor 700 MHz or faster
- Memory 512MB of RAM
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- Media drive
- DVD-ROM drive
- Operating system
- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista. This product is not compatible with Mac OS.
- Hard disk
- 1.5GB
-
- Display
- 1024 x 768 or higher-resolution monitor
Recommended reading:
- Special Edition Using Microsoft Expression Web
- Microsoft Expression Web Plain & Simple
- Microsoft Expression Web For Dummies
Free online Expression Web Tutorials (links open in new window):
It's really a great thing that you put in both advantages and disadvantages of it. That's really smart because it makes the article really interesting.
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