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Microsoft Tests New Web Design Tool

By Nate Mook, BetaNews

May 15, 2006, 1:34 PM

Microsoft on Monday released the first public build of Expression Web Designer (EWD), the last component of its upcoming Expression suite to become available in Community Technology Preview form. Web Designer, a successor to FrontPage, joins Expression Graphic Designer and Interactive Designer.

Formerly known by the code-name "Quartz," EWD uses a WYSIWG interface to help users build standards-based Web sites with support for sophisticated CSS layouts. The tool also closely integrates with ASP .NET 2.0 on the backend. Microsoft is expected to release Expression in final form early next year. The Web Designer CTP is available for download for Windows XP and higher.

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By ogman

posted May 16, 2006 - 6:15 AM

Public download has run into tech difficulties. They request you check back tomorrow.

Score: 0

By utomo

posted May 15, 2006 - 11:56 PM

http://fileforum.betanew...b_Designer/1147707644/1
have too many problems, as reported at that page.
Microsoft need to solve it, before releasing another betas.

and microsoft also have
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
which is free for download
I don't know how they position this and that

Score: 0

By morriscox

posted May 15, 2006 - 3:15 PM

I'm in the beta (through Connect, shhh...). They're trying to use web standards this time. I still wish they would do XHTML Strict instead of XHTML Transitional. It installed fine, though it wouldn't allow me to pick an install directory. It can also do PHP; however, only at a basic level so far.

Score: 0

By JacenSolo

posted May 15, 2006 - 4:21 PM

Personally I wish they'd support all types and versions of HTML (4.0, X, trans/strict, etc)

Score: 0

By morriscox

posted May 15, 2006 - 7:59 PM

I know there's a lot of demand for code pre XHTML. However, there are a *lot* of advantages to using XML-based code (such as XHTML). I'm tired of shoddy code by incompetent developers and designers who can't be bothered to do things right. They offer some lame excuse such as: "I can't be bothered with that stuff", "Nobody uses that stuff", "There's no point in using it", etc. They make bloated pages that are 3-5 times the size needed, take 5-10 times to load, waste space and bandwidth, and yet people are supposed to think they're some elite coder. I have no use for morons who can't be bothered to make a decent page/site.

I'm not saying that XHTML Strict should be used for everything. However, I'm fed up with seeing a piece of text with 3 or more font tags or seeing empty paragraph tags or a whole bunch of images when text would be just fine.

If I can turn a 10K page into a 2K page with no change in appearance, something is wrong.

Score: 0

By JacenSolo

posted May 17, 2006 - 9:04 AM

I prefer to use HTML 4.0 trans. I don't see a problem with it. I'm still learning CSS, and so every styling stuff is going in there in the hopes of making smaller pages with less s*** and more content.

Score: 0

By morriscox

posted May 17, 2006 - 4:45 PM

XHTML (and XML) seperates content and presentation. That allows one group to work on the design and another group to work on the content without getting in each other's way or requiring having both sets of skills. It is also future-compatible as any tool that can handle XML can process it (and also convert it into any form needed). The same cannot be said of HTML. Also screen readers and the like can process XHTML much easier as it is cleaner and has structure. Pick up a book on XHTML and read what the benefits are.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited May 15, 2006 - 2:34 PM

I've heard tell that MS Word will have blogging capabilities, and that the code ('view source') is much cleaned up compared to previous versions of Word/Frontpage. (No 'div' statements hanging, useless, around every freaking word.)

I wonder if they're going with the same 'basic' code-building for this app?

One can only hope....cleaning up FP/word HTML is a horrible PITA.

Score: 0

By JacenSolo

edited May 15, 2006 - 4:22 PM

I just tried to install the CTP1 and it gave an error "The installation of the package failed."

Doesn't look good Microsoft... I need an error to be able to troubleshoot.

EDIT: Fixed it. had to redownload it.

Score: 0

By JacenSolo

posted May 15, 2006 - 1:49 PM

I wonder...

Frontpage was annoying in how it centered around Microsoft's priority technology, mainly the use of Frontpage tools and ASP... Will Expression be free of this annoyance?

Score: 0

By tbresson

edited May 16, 2006 - 3:58 AM

I wonder what the point is to make another web editor - now Microsoft has:

Web Matrix
Visual Studio Web Developer Express
Visual Studio 2005

and now this?

Yes, and of course Frontpage - which this program seems to take over, but really - where's the need?

Score: 0

By JacenSolo

posted May 17, 2006 - 9:07 AM

WebMatrix? Never heard of that. Link?

Score: 0

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