Microsoft releases Expression Web Beta 1

Microsoft has released their Expression Web Beta 1, and this is a high end web design tool that was designed as a replacement to FrontPage. Oh yeah, and it's free, yes, free, and from Microsoft... who would of thought? Microsoft has announced that they will be retiring FrontPage, and users that are familiar with this software will need to learn Expression Web Beta 1 if they wish to use the latest web design tool. It has a number features which I personally find the be impressive: advanced CSS layouts, along with CSS management. Other people have said that the style of the management is quite impressive. It is also important to note that Expression Web will not be comprised of FPSE, or Front Page Server Extensions.

Those who may be annoyed by this will be happy to learn that it will not be removed completely. However they will be present on websites built with FrontPage that are already comprised of them. When you start a new project, you will use sleek tools that utilize both CSS along with HTML. Those who use this software can also expect deployment to occur via processes such as FTP. Those who are looking to try out Expression Web Beta one can download the free trial before deciding if they want to purchase the full verion. Before you install Expression Web, you will first need to install .NET Framework 2.0. You may also need to uninstall any Microsoft Office 2007 Beta 1 programs you may have present on your computer.

Expression web is specifically designed for webmasters who are looking to build websites that are high in quality. Unlike other web design tools, it offers support for a large number of formats, and some of these are XHTML, Javascript, CSS, XML, and ASP.NET. As the internet continues to evolve, it is important to build websites that are interactive and dynamic. However, Expression Web Beta 1 cannot function without the .NET Framework. Microsoft didn't release the first public showing of this software until May of 2006. The Beta of it was released early last month.

In the latest incarnation of this software, virtually all references to MS FrontPage have been removed. This includes things such as bots and functions. Overall, I personally think Expression Beta is an excellent piece of software. The tests that have been run so far show that it does not have a large number of bugs, and I think that it is superior to Dreamweaver in a number of different ways. I'am also glad to see that it is not merely of clone of its predecessor. However, a number of people have said that they don't see a large number of differences between Expression Beta and FrontPage. The only problem I see with Microsoft's decision to switch to from FrontPage to Expression Beta is that they have alienated people that are fans of FrontPage.

The only thing I can assume about the decision of Microsoft to switch to a new software application is that perhaps FrontPage did not have the necessary infrastructure to allow users to build truly interactive sites. Fans who are highly skilled with FrontPage will probably disagree with this assumption. However, Expression Beta is a powerful tool that has a number of impressive features. Though I have already spent a bit of time talking about its support for CSS, it also has the ability to perform Quirks rendering. This is important, because it will insure that your website is compatible with all the major browsers.

It can be very frustrating to build a website that is displayed poorly on one browser while looking excellent on another. Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Expression Beta is the site templates. As we all know, being able to build a website quickly is one of the most important factors in allow you to succeed on the internet. Gone are the days were it took months to get a website off the ground. Expression Beta offers you the ability to use "professional" templates. Notice how I put an emphasis on the word "professional" in the last sentence. The reason I did this is because while they are a lot of templates available on the web, many of them are not professional. Expression Beta offers the best of both worlds.

The templates that are used with Expression Beta are compatible with both XHTML and CSS. This means that the template will be dynamic. Another cool feature of Expression Beta is the Tag property grid. This allows you to create specific properties for a selected tag. You can utilize the power of HTML with one palette instead of multiple palettes. Unlike many web design tools, Expression Beta uses what is called an Intelligent CSS Style Creation. What this means is that webmasters can place an emphasis on design rather than worrying about the creation of CSS elements. This allows users to avoid the repetition issues that are often a problem when designing websites.

Drag and drop management is another impressive feature of Expression Beta. You can migrate styles quickly and easily by simply using drage and drop. If you need to rename styles, you can do it quickly, and you don't have to worry about using the "find and replace" feature. Users have the option of viewing CSS reports from all of their websites, and this makes them easier to manage. Those who use Expression Beta will be given control over how the CSS code will be presented in the program. It is these features, plus many more, that has allowed Expression Beta to stand out from the crowd. Those that try out the trial version are likely to be impressed by it.

Another feature of Expression Beta that I forgot to mention was the customized view of the XML information. You can customize your views, and the tools available for this task are drag and drop. This will allow you to generate visualizations within a short period of time. The visualizations that are created will be perfectly tailored to the CSS design of your website. Another important aspect of Expression Beta is the ability to modify data.