Yesterday Microsoft launched Expression Web 2 Beta available for free download
To submit suggestions and bugs, go to:
http://connect.microsoft.com/expression
It requires .Net Framework 3.5 to be installed before it will install
If you have the private preview Expression 2 previews installed you should uninstall these before installing the Expression Web 2 Beta. However it can be installed alongside Expression 1 with no problems.
What is new in Expression Web 2 Beta?
PHP
- Preview PHP pages
- target different versions of PHP
- Insert PHP snippets
- customizable color coding in Code View
- PHP IntelliSense (auto complete)
- PHP includes - rendered in Design view.
Byte order mark options
Enables control over Bom insertion
Silverlight 1.0
Expression Web 2 Beta allows you to insert or Edit a HTML file generated by Silverlight
Flash and Windows Media
Insert Flash SWF and Windows Media files, edit and preview flash files in Design View or run any other type of ActiveX control.
Photoshop Import
Expression Web 2 enables you to generate a .png, .gif, or .jpeg file from a Photoshop .psd file and select the Photoshop layers you want to include or exclude from the image.
ASP.NET AJAX
ASP.NET AJAX server controls that let you create web pages that include a familiar user interface (UI) elements.
ASP.NET AJAX server controls supported by Expression Web 2 include the UpdatePanel, Timer, UpdateProgress, ScriptManager, and ScriptManagerProxy controls.
Note:
To work with these controls in Expression Web 2, you must install ASP.NET AJAX or the .NET Framework 3.5. See Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 in the Microsoft Download Center online.
Custom ASP.NET controls
Custom ASP.NET controls that you have placed in the BIN folder of your website. Preview custom controls and access the Common Tasks smart tag menu in Design view, edit properties, and use IntelliSense and syntax checking in Code view.
Third party custom ASP.NET controls can be used
ASP.NET data
DataPager and ListView ASP.NET controls.
Note:
To work with these controls in Expression Web 2, you must install the .NET Framework 3.5. See Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 in the Microsoft Download Center online.
FTP publishing
Set Passive FTP or normal FTP, and save your FTP user name and password.
CSS
The Design view in Expression Web 2 now renders the CSS overflow property.
As well as internal CSS files the Compatibility Reports now check external CSS files, for compatibility with the CSS schema you specify.
HTML file extension
Expression Web 2 lets you set your preference for the default HTML file extension.
Alphabetized HTML attributes
A new setting in the Code Formatting options in the Page Editor Options dialog box enables you to control whether HTML attributes are alphabetized or not in the code of your web pages. By default, tag attributes are now written in alphabetical order when Expression Web 2 adds HTML tags to your page. Existing tags in a page are affected by the new setting only if you apply the Reformat HTML command to the page. For more information,