Expression Web Community Toolbar updated

July 22nd, 2010

Our Free Expression Web Community Toolbar is updated every few days. As soon as we have a respectable amount of new links gathered we post the new links to a New Links sub menu and put the previous new links in their categories.

We cover each of the Expression Web versions 1, 2, 3 and 4 as well as the Expression applications.

  • Expression Design
  • Expression Blend
  • Expression Encoder

as well as Contests/Giveaways and Offers for Expression Web 3.0 and 4.0.

We let you know about Expression Web Communities, Webcasts and Live Events.

We also cover Web Design and there are other features that let you keep up todate with tweets, blogs and Facebook plus more besides.

You want to hand all the Expression Web links and have to be bothered to go spend hours searching for lists, forums, ebooks, add-ins and to find out about new links then the toolbar is tailor made for you. It works in Internet Explorer Safar and FireFox.

Expression Web and CSS – Information about CSS

July 17th, 2010

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) divides one’s content from one’s formatting, enabling the webmaster to instantly change fonts, colours and backgrounds to name just a few, Style is as Styles suggests, which means CSS handles the STYLE formatting of your web page (the way it looks), and lets HTML layout the CONTENT. What could be easier?

Learn more about Expression Web and CSS – Information about CSS

Free Setting up Expression Web 4.0 Ebook

July 9th, 2010

Learn how to start off the right way with the New Free Setting up Expression Web 4.0 Ebook

You can also find it on the Microsoft Expression Web Gallery

The Free Setting up Expression Web 3.0 Ebook has also been updated and revised

Why should you bother to follow the free setting up Expression Web ebooks?

Every programme has a settings feature, the designers provide different setups for the user so a user can ‘do it their way’. By choosing the defaults by which you set your application, you are therefore more in control. However, what if you don’t know what methods to choose? That is where the Setting up Expression Web Ebooks come in. Designed with the newbie in mind and even intermediate users who can tweak their way around the settings but let them stand to keep them reminded and nudged about their coding. Therefore providing a best practice experience to help guide you to doing things the Right Way.

If you spot any errors or omissions please drop me a line.

Winners of Expression Web Contest

June 9th, 2010

Design a 404 page Contest

Thanks to all who took part in the Design a 404 page competition congratulations to our winners
-Apologies for the delay in announcing the winners – computer issues-

What I was looking for was a visual impact but with words that made the 404 page FUN.

Our 1st prize winner Marsha Bryant who wins a full version of Expression Web 3.0 has accomplished just that.
Her quirky design really made me laugh and want to look further, it also encompassed directions to help the visitor find the page they were looking for. Congratulations Marsha and well done.

Our 2nd prize winner is Rayburn Taylor who wins Volumes l and ll of my Expression Web Tips Ebooks. Rayburn had five entries, however this one stood out, it has visual impact  but is short and sweet congratulations Rayburn.

Our 3rd prize winner is Jill Edwards who wins a copy of Volume l of my Expression Web Tips Ebook, Jill just edged out a fellow entry for third prize as her entry was easy to read. Not quite the visual impact of the first two winners but the puns spiced up the page and made me smile. She had three entries, congratulations Jill.

The there were not many entries overall, it was a fun contest and we will have more in the future with similar prizes.

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook Summer Sale

May 25th, 2010

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook is now on sale for the summer.

Standard price is $29 you can now obtain it for $22.

If you are thinking about updating your site or moving from FrontPage to Expression Web this is the ebook to help you figure out just how to do that with the least work possible.
Obtain your ebook at http://frontpage-to-expression.com/ and save some credit crunch monies just in time for the summer hols.
With the launch of Expression Web 4.0 on the 7th June at Internet Week in New York, now is exactly the right time to upgrade to Expression Web 3.0 as if you own EW 3.0 then you get Expression Web 4.0 for f ree when it becomes available. Note that Expression Studio has a 40% off offer at the Microsoft store too. If you can’t afford to upgrade right now don’t forget about Tina’s 404 Design Page contest where you can win EW 3.0

Expression Web 4.0 Launch Event

May 24th, 2010

Startups and Technology at Internet Week will see the launch of Expression Web 4.0

Expression Web 4.0 at Internet Week
Where is the Time and Place?

  • DATE: June 7th – 14th, 2010
  • PLACE: New York
  • TIME: between 11:00 AM — 01:00 PM

If you would like to be at the event go register at Expression 4 Launch

Who is the Featured Speaker?

Bill Buxton will be the featured guest speaker, he is the Principal Research at Microsoft and author of the book Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design

What will be shown?

Design agencies who have seen their business grow with Expression Studio will also be showcased. Not only Expression Web Studio 4.0 but design tools for the Web, the desktop, mobile devices, and Silverlight will be shown in action.

NOTE: Anyone that has Expression Web 3.0 can upgrade for FREE to Expression Web 4.0 when it becomes available, so take this opportunity to upgrade NOW. Bear in mind if there is a launch of EW 4.0 on the 7th how much longer will that offer last?

If you are wanting to upgrade Expression Studio or Expression Web then the Microsoft Store currently has an offer on for 40% less.

If you can’t afford it then how about entering my 404 Design Page contest to win Expression Web 3.0?

Win Expression Web 3.0 by creating a custom 404 page

May 18th, 2010

I have a full Expression Web 3.0 key to award the winner of the best design of a 404 page. Remember that once you have Expression Web 3.0 you will be able to upgrade to Expression Web 4.0 for free when it becomes available. Our Expression Web Tips Ebooks are designed to help you to use Expression Web.

  • 1st Prize Expression Web 3.0
  • 2nd Prize Expression Web Tips Vol l and Vol ll Ebooks
  • 3rd Prize Expression Web Tips Vol l Ebook

What you have to do to enter the contest.

NOTE: You DO NOT have to own FP or EW to enter, its about designing a 404 page not what web editor you have. Part of the design will be a photo of some sort in probability and for that you will need a graphic editor though the simple Paint that comes with windows can be used. There is a selection of free graphic editors in our Expression Web Community Toolbar.

Design a 404 page that embodies a play on words or a play on the photo, or introduces a double meaning or even a pun.

For example http://www.lanaichc.org/404.html uses the plane wing to sport a number which is of course 404. Then half the photo is in negative mode whilst the other half is positive and the wording emphasis this with a play on the words. “Let us turn a negative into a positive and help you find that page you are looking for”

You can enter as many times as you like as long as the site is your own site, or its a site you designed, such as for a client, but it must be all your own work.

If you are looking for inspiration or how to implement a 404  then check out the following links

http://www.plinko.net/404/

404 Google

What if I can’t implement a 404 page?

Then pop along to our Microsoft Expression Web List where members will attempt to help you work through your hosts particular requirements.

If you host with Bluehost.com this tutorial will help you set a 404 page up.
http://www.expression-web-tutorials.com/bh-custom-error-pages.html

If you host with 1and1.com or need to make a 404 page in a general way this tutorial will help you.
http://www.genealogy-web-creations.com/create-custom-error-page.html

To implement a CUSTOM 404 file, you need to find out what YOUR host allows. If they do not allow you access to the .htacces file or allow you to implement it via the control panel, do they at least allow you to ‘turn on’ their own generic 404 pages?

For more help with your 404 page implementation first take a look at the above links and if you are still stuck come join the Microsoft Expression Web List where will we endeavour to help you. You need to make a subject line of 404 – http://yoursite.com with yoursite being your own domain, in the body of the message give us the link to your host, and the link to your site and tell us what problems you are having. Better yet just come join anyway for help and advice with Expression Web, even if you are still using FrontPage or are using SharePoint Designer 2007. You can be using any editor to enter this contest.

If your host does not allow custom  404 pages for whatever reason just upload the page as a page and enter it as the design.  At the very least you will have learnt more about your host, what a 404 does for you and had some fun ito the bargin not to mention in with a chance to win the prizes.

What are the dates of the contest?

It starts today 18th May and runs till end of the month  31st May

18th May – 31st May EXTENDED to 6th June

How do I enter?

You MUST enter via the contact form, no other form of entry will be considered.

Simply use the contact form here on the blog – head it with Expression Web Contest.
http://www.expression-web.net/contact/

Give me your:

  • Name
  • Email
  • link to the 404 design or 404 custom page design

Now all you have to do is have a bit of fun. Good Luck.

http://www.plinko.net/404/

What is new in Expression Web 3.0 Service Pack 2?

April 7th, 2010

The two best things for me about this service pack are the fix for PDF files and now I can go update FireFox.

Issues resolved in this service pack

  • When editing PHP, files you may have been asked to update related hyperlinks on the page. If you did so, some PHP tags may have been removed. PHP tags are no longer removed when you update related hyperlinks.
  • When you renamed a PDF file from the Folder List, the PDF file became corrupted and could not be opened. PDF files now save normally.
  • Expression Web 3 would crash if the list-style-image property was used in a CSS file. Using the list-style-image property in a CSS file no longer causes Expression Web to crash.
  • SuperPreview sometimes crashed while launching because of a problem that occurred when locating Firefox on your computer. SuperPreview no longer crashes while locating Firefox.

    Expression Web 3.0 Service Pack 2

Improvements provided by this service pack

SuperPreview now supports Firefox 3.6. If Firefox 3.6 is installed on your computer, then it should be available in SuperPreview.

Installation details

Expression Web 3.0  SP2  is available on the Microsoft Download Center.

How to determine if Expression Web 3 SP2 is installed

In Expression Web 3, click ‘About Microsoft Expression Web’. If Expression Web 3 SP2 is not installed, one of the following version numbers appear based on your region and current service pack level:

Microsoft Expression Web 3 Version 3.0.1762.0

Microsoft Expression Web 3 Version 3.0.1773.0

Microsoft Expression Web 3 Service Pack 1 Version 3.0.3813.0

If Expression Web 3 SP2 is installed, the following version number appears:

Microsoft Expression Web 3 Service Pack 2 Version 3.0.3816.0 (see graphic)

NOTE: All languages offered with Service Pack 1 are now available for Service Pack 2, For a list of languages just click on the “Change language” drop down.

Expression Web 4.0 secrets revealed

March 30th, 2010

Expression Web users want to know how they can use their Access 2007 Database with Expression Web?

The answer before now has been pretty simple, you can’t without jumping through a few hoops. However all that is about to change when Expression Web 4.0 arrives. Better YET, if you don’t already have Expression Web 3.0 if you upgrade NOW, when Expression Web 4.0 comes out you get  EW 4.0 for FREE.

Its a simple matter then, to do the maths, if you don’t have Expression Web 1.0 or 2.0 then one of these qualifying products will also allow you to upgrade to Expression Web 3.0 for the price of $79 at the Microsoft Store, perhaps less elsewhere. You can of course buy the full version at $149

  • Any Microsoft® Expression product
  • Any Adobe Creative Suite product
  • Any Microsoft Office product

Or you might want to upgrade the studio version, and your luck is in because the Microsoft store are having a sale at 40% OFF the upgrade price.

Just in case I didn’t make that clear enough -

Full versions and upgrades to Expression Studio 3.0 and Expression Web 3.0 (or current owners) means you get Expression Studio 4.0 or Expression Web 4.0 for FREE when it comes out.

Justin Harrison the Program Manager for Expression Web has written a short tutorial about Using an Access 2007 database with ASP.NET 3.5 and Expression Web 3.0 to be followed up with steps on How to use an Access 2007 database as a data source in your site in Expression Web 4.0 which is much easier than the method he outlines for Expression Web 3.0.

Justin tells us that Expression Web 3.0 supports ASP.NET 2.0, 3.0, and 3.5., however these versions of ASP.NET do not support Access 2007 data connections.

The great news though is that ASP.NET 4.0 supports these data connections – and Expression Web 4.0 (not yet released) supports ASP.NET 4.0.

This is just one tidbit about Expression Web 4.0 and it bodes well for the other goodies that might be revealed. So get prepared and get upgraded now.

If you are still using FrontPage and are wondering how you are going to migrate your site to be ready, we have the solution for that too. Take a look at our Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook standard pricing is $29. However, if you download our Expression Web Community Toolbar, and enter our Expression Web Easter Giveaway you will be in with a chance of not only winning a full version of Expression Web 3.0 but our ebook and other prizes besides, the Easter Giveaway offer ends April 30th.

Expression Web Easter Giveaway

March 12th, 2010

Expression Web 3.0 is only part of our giveaway see what else we have in store for you.

1st prize is:

A fully working copy of Expression Web 3.0 courtesy of:
Steve Guttman – Product Unit Manager, Expression Web

There will be ONE lucky winner!

2nd Prize is:

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v2.0  (fully updated for EW 3.0) Courtesy of:
Pat Geary- Microsoft MVP – Expression Web and Tina Clarke – Microsoft MVP – Expression Web

There will be TWO lucky winners

3rd Prize is:

Expression Web Tips Ebooks Vol l & ll  (fully updated for EW 3.0) courtesy of:
Tina Clarke – Microsoft MVP – Expression Web

There will be THREE lucky winners

Plus there will be a special prize courtesty of Dennis DeRobertis of Expression Extras for entries who find the location of our little Easter bunny and his egg.

Starts: 12th March 2010 Finishes: 30th April 2010

What do you have to do to enter?

Simply download and install the Expression Web Community Toolbar

Then a make note of the giveaway code in the marquee. Then when you have done so, fill in the form

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Marquee code
  • Your site url

You will then be entered  into the drawing for the giveaway. Plus we will list your link (if you are a prize winner) on our website at the end of the giveaway.

ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON WILL BE ACCEPTED.

The names of the lucky winners will be posted on the site and asked if they wish to comment on their prize. You MUST complete the form to enter the Expression Web Easter Giveaway.

Don’t forget to look for our Easter bunny and his egg.

Look out for our Summer Sale.

Watch this space:)