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Microsoft Expression Web Designer Community Technology Preview 1

These days I consider myself a developer. That being said, I've got no problem rolling my sleeves up and getting a little dirty if I need to do some light database design or some system admin work. I don't really feel it's my responsability, but for the most part I don't mind helping out if I need to.

The place where I really don't like pitching in is on the design side of things. It's not that I wouldn't like to help out, but my design skills sort of stopped developing around the time I graduated kindergarden. Sure I can layout a page to make it look like whatever you want it to, but deciding what the page should look like or what color a tab or button should be is just not my thing -- which most of our loyal readers can attest to. I used to think that most developers felt the same as I did, but, from what I hear, there actually is another type of web developer. So if you're one of those developers that actually likes to dabble in design, keep reading. Microsoft has got just the product for you -- Microsoft Expression Web Designer.

According to Microsoft:

Microsoft® Expression® Web Designer gives you all the tools you'll need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites the way you want them. Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web site design, enabling you to design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web sites.

Installation

The download is a little hefty at 230MB, but aside from the wait, installation went off without a hitch.

The size of the installation screens surprised me a little. At 618x522, they're larger then most setup screens. This isn't even real size... I've shrunk them some for publication:

I was also a little surprised at the reboot. Most of the recent Microsoft releases I've installed haven't required one.

Some Highlights

I'll leave it up to you to make any real decisions on the product, but here are a few highlights that I thought were sort of neat:

It comes with a number of sample pre-defined CSS layouts which you can use to layout your pages instead of the endless nested tables we're all used to using.

It also includes a number of pre-defined Web site templates. I'm not sure how useful they'll end up being (anyone remember the old Frontpage Themes?), but they're there to play with.

The style editor seems quite simple to use and worked well for the little bit I played with it.

Conclusions

As I mentioned above, I'll let you decide for yourself if the tool will fit your needs, but to me it felt like a front-end only version of Visual Web Developer Express. For example, the toolbox is there and you can drag-and-drop ASP.NET controls, but when you click on the control, instead of being taken to the code area to write code, the control is simply highlighted and its design properties are displayed. For the time being, this might be a useful supplement to VWD or for those of you looking strictly for a design tool, but to me it feels like the new design elements will probably be incorporated into the next version of the Visual Studio Suite. At that point downloading Microsoft Expression Web Designer would seem sort of pointless if Visual Web Developer Express is still available for free.

More Information

• Microsoft Expression Web Designer Home
• Microsoft Expression Web Designer CTP Frequently Asked Questions
• Microsoft Expression Web Designer Community Technology Preview 1 - Free Download