Easy HTML & CSS with Expression Web 4

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Notice: This is a discussion thread for comments about the SitePoint article, Easy HTML & CSS with Expression Web 4.

In a recent three part article series, user experience expert Shane Morris showed us the basics of designing a Microsoft Silverlight application using Expression Blend. In [URL=“http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/expression-web-standards”]today’s article, Readify Senior Consultant Tatham Oddie introduces us to Expression Blend’s sister product, Expression Web, and gives us the broad strokes on it’s markup and styling features within the context of web standards.

Tatham begins by pointing out that Expression Web is not dependent on Microsoft’s server-side products, and thus well worth an investigation whether you’re using HTML, ASP.NET, or PHP. He then sings the praises of building towards web standards, and mentions some benefits of doing so (faster loading with CSS layouts, for example).

As we move on we’ll see how important it is to work out which standard you want to target before jumping into the code, and how Expression Web is all about enabling that process. It’s smart HTML IntelliSense, in-built ‘Compatibility Checker,’ and HTML-styled ‘Find and Replace’ function all make web standards that much simpler.

We’ve got a quiz for you to tackle, sponsored by Microsoft, so why not give it a go once you’ve read the [URL=“http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/expression-web-standards”]article?

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Given that the website for it is still a broken train wreck, I feel really bad for anyone DUMB ENOUGH to be duped into using piles of junk like this one. Another laundry list of how not to build a website, where things like valid markup and the WCAG are completely alien concepts.

But I say the same thing about Dreamweaver.

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very informative article thanks for posting.

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Hi fendeanson - there have been a few issues with PHP in earlier versions (like v1 and v2) but they should all be well and truly fixed by now. If you’re still having issues, feel free to send them through to me and I can raise them with the team.

There’s first class support for PHP in Expression Web which I’ll be showing in the next article.

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Hi rscavilla - I’m guessing you’re working with PHP? If so, stay tuned for the next article where I cover this.

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I forgot to mention … if you have a copy of EW3 then you also get a free upgrade to EW4.

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I used Expression Web 3 and liked it, but switched to Dreamweaver when I “got the privilege to duplicate” a bug that strips you file of all its PHP code on saving. :frowning:

I hope they fixed this bug in version 4.

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I do a lot of non Microsoft web development as well. Has anyone had experience using Expression Web with an apache server and MySQL?

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Outstanding article man! Maybe I am biased being a .NET junkie. Your writing is fluent, clear, and informative, unlike alot of article writers here on SitePoint who go for shock-and-awe to get hits. Looking forward to the next MS article!