Microsoft Expression Web 2?

Major_Disaster

Major_Disaster

Major_Disaster

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Anyone have any experience with the above. I tried the original, but preferred Dreamweaver CS3. Didnt even notice this one get launched... what are the reviews like? It looks promising, but is it as good as Dreamweaver CS3 (or CS4 for that matter)?

Cheers.
 
Bit of a bump because I'd be very interested to know about this as well.

I suppose that most people use Dreamweaver/Creative Suite though since it's been around a lot longer, hence lack of replies.
 
I think the majority of people around here will be hand coding. So they probably haven't got much to say about Dreamweaver either.
 
Major_Disaster said:
No one got anything to say about it? Guess its not very popular then. Will have to DL and see myself...
Click to expand...

It does look interesting and I would actually use it providing the software doesn't alter the code you type at all.

Basically I want Notepad++ but with more of a project orientation....
 
I've had a little play with it and it is quite good, although I do still find myself going back to Notepad++

It's got a code view so nothing stopping you from hand coding stuff and version 2 supports PHP which is nice and very unlike Microsoft.
 
Conrad11 said:
It does look interesting and I would actually use it providing the software doesn't alter the code you type at all.

Basically I want Notepad++ but with more of a project orientation....
Click to expand...

Check out e text editor. It's textmate for windows.
 
Major_Disaster said:
Anyone have any experience with the above. I tried the original, but preferred Dreamweaver CS3. Didnt even notice this one get launched... what are the reviews like? It looks promising, but is it as good as Dreamweaver CS3 (or CS4 for that matter)?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately when you ever ask questions like this you usually just get a whole host of "Code it yourself", "Use Notepad" and that kind of thing.
Whereas I'm sure "hand coding" websites is all well and good some people just don't have the time of inclanation to learn how to do this.
When there are packages out there that will do the job for you then why waste the time?

I was actualy a big FrontPage fan as it was a way of me getting into the whole idea of having my own "space on the web".
I started with the product back at FrontPage 97 when it was first bought by Microsoft.
In those days it was a terrible product - but at the same time I was able to create personal websites that looked a lot better than some of the rubbish out there.
FrontPage 2003 I loved - all my sites are fully HTML complient and yes, they were created in FrontPage, proof that it doesn't just change code for the hell of it.

I used Expression Web (first release) and did rather like it.
Saw it as an improvement over FrontPage 2003.
Loads of new features, nice and easy to use interface.
You can either use it as a powerful tool or as something basic as an HTML editor - it certainly wasn't bad for a first release of a new product.
I haven't yet had the chance to play with Expression Web 2.
However if it only has some minor improvements it will be a good product.
It is well priced compared to Dreamweaver and you can download a 60 day trial version from MS, so I'd say go and get it and give it a try.
 
I've done both hand coding and front page and dream weaver, tbh, front page 2003 added too much junk code which when looking at just makes the process more confusing as your looking at irrelevant code, in fact you can usually delete a lot of it.

Hand coding is so much nicer as you know what is where and how it all works, but then you lose the w.y.s.i.w.y.g interface which to some is really important and daunting to drop when your use to it.

I got Dreamweaver CS3, but as a wysiwyg editor I cant even consider it because its just not user friendly compared to front page 2003 :p I just cant agree with its layout and would rather hand code tbh.

I never tried expression 1 so should be entertained by expression 2 for a bit. Doubt that I'd use it though, once you know how to hand code, you kinda feel like your dumbing yourself down to wysiwyg editors, and you kinda have a natural flow hand coding.
 
Just found out that my uni is part of the Microsoft DreamSpark program, so I can download the full Expression Studio for free :D

Will let you know what the program is like when I get chance to test it :)
 
Well I've had a day using Expression Web 2 and it's pretty good.

If you've ever used Visual Studio 2005/2008 or Dreamweaver, you'll feel right at home with this.

I normally hand-code when I'm building the site and then use some of the software tools to help me manage it (i.e. click an element and it shows me what style I'd written for it etc) and Expression was at least as good as Dreamweaver for this. If anything, I felt the interface was more streamlined and the program was more responsive that DW.

I think that if you wanted an inclusive package with support for PHP and ASP.NET, I'd have no hesitation in recommending Expression Web 2, but only if you don't already have one of the newer versions of Dreamweaver (8/CS3 or CS4). Even though I think the .NET support in Expression is better than DW, I wouldn't buy the software just for better IntelliSense and Masterpage/Code-behind support. I would go and download Visual Studio 2008 Web Developer Express Edition because it would give you great .NET support for free.
 
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