Microsoft Expression Web

Posted by Matt - December 14, 2006 on 9:49 pm | In Web Design, XHTML and CSS | No Comments

Microsoft has just released another new Web development tool called “Expression Web.”   Expression Web has the same code base as Sharepoint Designer 2007.  The Menu’s and every aspect of the software between Expression Web and SharePoint Designer are exactly the same (except that SharePoint Designer has some extra functionality for developing SharePoint Sites).

As some of you may know, Microsoft has officially replaced Microsoft Frontpage with Expression Web. Many of the discussions boards say this is related to trying to change the image that FrontPage portrayed (i.e. for amateurs, poor quality code… etc.).

Microsoft has worked hard to make Expression Web based on Web Standards so that web sites designed using Expression Web will be viewable in as many different varieties/types of web browsers as possible.

I also am very impressed with Expression Web’s new CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) capabilities. The program is easier and seems more advanced than either Golive CS2 or Dreamweaver 8 in this respect. I love it!

The program seems to be easier to learn and begin to write sites with than Dreamweaver 8.  If you are going to design asp.net enabled sites, this is the software to use!

Negative: There are some weaknesses in the software though.

  • Since Expression Web is based on the same code base as Sharepoint Designer 2007 it also seems to have poor or buggy FTP support (its really difficult and SLOW to upload, download, and synchronize a web site with the local site on the development computer).
  • Microsoft (understandably) wants us to design using their servers and technology. As a result, the ONLY server side support is for asp.net. There is NO support for php (which most of the Internet’s applications are written in) nor any other programming technology. I find this to be a real weakness since I have a fondness for php development.

Overall, I think Dreamweaver 8 is the best design and web development tool on the market. If 3rd party developers start to develop some good “add-ins” for Expression Web (add-ins extend or increase the functionality or abilities of the program) then it could be closer to taking the top position. It definitely is a very significant improvement over Frontpage 2003!

Matthew

 


New Replacement for Microsoft FrontPage!

Posted by Matt - December 1, 2006 on 1:03 pm | In Programming Languages, Web Design, XHTML and CSS | No Comments

There are many different web design software packages that can be used to develop websites. I have used or at least tried almost all of them. One that I have used, but always felt it lacked some necessary “professional” features was Microsoft Frontpage 2003.

Microsoft has replaced Frontpage…. with a much better product!

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007

Today is the first day I have been able to experiment with and test out the features of Sharepoint Designer 2007… but it seems to fix many of the issues of Frontpage.

  • The raw code produced seems to be more standards based and better quality.
  • It is much easier to work with CSS and have a site based on Cascading Style Sheets.
  • Many more features, especially .net application development and Sharepoint site development.

How does it compare to the latest version of Dreamweaver 8? Which product I would use depends upon two main issues:

  • Do I need to design a website for a Microsoft Web Server?
  • Do I need to use .net technology instead of PHP?

Since Microsoft produced Sharepoint Designer, they of course want to promote their own development languages and technologies - which include of course the .net/asp applications and technologies. If you need to develop a website for a Microsoft Server using .net…. it is much easier to use Sharepoint Designer rather than Dreamweaver 8. 

Since the majority of web servers on the Internet are Linux based (and can’t use .net/asp applications) you will be more limited in many circumstances. Dreamweaver has much better PHP support (especially with Interakt extensions) and PHP is available on almost all webhosting packages.

Sharepoint Designer 2007 also does not have the new “ribbon” that the other new Office products have, but it seems fairly intuitive to use.

Well…. I need to go play with my new toy… and learn some more .net/asp while I’m at it!

Matthew