When you need to create a popup window this low cost Expression Web 1.0/2.0 addon is just the job.

Spawn for Expression Web currently comes in two flavours, one for version 1.0 and one for 2.0 of  Expression Web. What about Expression Web 3.0 I hear you ask? Well Microsoft having redevloped the underlying coding of Expression Web have not had time to restore the ability to allow addon functionality. However at some point in time perhaps in the service pack 1 hopefully out in the fall or version 4.0 it will be back and we can use addons once more in the latest Expression Web version.

For $5 you get both versions of spawn for Expression Web. PLUS, current purchasers will also receive a free copy of the Expression Web 3.0 version once it becomes available.

NOTE: Upon installing, Spawn warns you that if you are installing this software on Windows Vista. Windows Server 2008, or Windows 7, you must install the package as an administrator by right-clicking on the setup package and choosing “Run as adminstrator.” Plus if you are installing Spawn on a version of Windows that uses User Access Control (UAC), you will need to launch Expression Web once as an administrator after you install Spawn so that the necessary settings are added to the Windows Registry. Thereafter, you can launch Expression Web as a regular user. To find the path under Windows Vista Ultimate go to C: Program Files – Microsoft Expression – Web 2 – WebDesigner – Exprwd.exe

You can find the addon under Insert, Jimco Software, Spawn Popup once its installed into Expression Web.

TIP: I find it best to select the element FIRST that I wish to trigger the popup from. Using the Quick Tag Selector in Expression Web is the easiest and quickest way to select the correct element.

Whats New

Previous versions of Spawn added an <a> element (a hyperlink) when adding a popup window. The current version of Spawn adds popups using the same technique as Expression Web Behaviors and will impact only the selected element. Spawn will never add a new element to your page.

What spawn won’t do

It won’t create a popup when your pages loads or unloads because most people block them, its not a good practice to use this method so if you are using some other code, change to the trigger methods Spawn uses instead it will further your sales instead of decreasing them with annoying page load popups.

1. How Much? – $5
2. Where from? – JimcoSoftware
3. For which version? – Expression Web 1.0 and 2.0

The next best thing are templates created from base with the tool and embellished with Pat Geary’s excellent choice of colours and sample graphics. Check out her Free Expression Web Dynamic Web Templates and observe the coding for the XHTML and CSS and give yourself some handy pointers to get yourself started.

WebAssist are having a site wide sale till the 30th of  June, that means that

Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor for Expression Web

is now $39.99 instead of $49.99

What you get:

• Total Customization
• Efficient and Intuitive
• Cross Browser Compatibility
• CSS Expertise

Never again do you have to start from scratch when making a new web template. This delightful Expression Web addon does it all for you. When I use the program I choose a basic layout and then insert it into Expression Web and I use EW  CSS Properites to tweak the styles to conform to my colours and graphics. I find this is best so that I practice using css within EW to keep up my skills.

If you don’t have this Expression Web addon yet – now is a really good time to get it, not only saving you credit crunch monies, but saving you time in getting started with that perfect template.

Webassist have extended their xmas offer till the 4th of January

 Xmas Offer: Was $49.99 Now $34.99

Well worth it at the original price, never mind this discount

For those of you who wanted to use the Expression Web Extras Toolbar Macro from Expression Web Extras which includes the below features. You will now be able to run it on Expression Web 2.0

SEO Tools included with the Toolbar

• Sitemap Builder
• Robots.txt Builder
• Property Count Menu Buttons
• Image Text Window

Productivity Tools included with the Toolbar

• Task Pane Cleaner
• Time Tracker
• Notes Window
• Close without Saving

Do not let the name FPCleaner lull you into thinking this is just for FrontPage. Expression Web 1.0 or 2.0 and Sharepoint Designer are also included within it’s collection of web editors that it will spring clean. This handy little application has saved so much time for so many. It is a timely announcement as well, when everyone’s next big thing is cleaning code. Very handy to have when working on all the pages of your site if your Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web.

 What does it do? FPCleaner removes the clutter left behind, and a few other things besides.

• Restore Default Toolbars and Menus
• Change the “Open Last Web” Setting
• Clear the Hidden “Temporary” Files
• Clear the Hidden Web Cache files (*.web)
• Clear the Find/Replace MRU List (New addition)
• Start – Displays a button for either FrontPage® or Expression Web® or SharePoint Designer® or one for each if installed, on the right side of the FPCleaner panel. Choose the one you want to launch and FPCleaner will then close.
   
  This application is essential for a smoother working enviroment and what’s more it’s free. So what are you waiting for?

It will not be offered at this price again.

Take advantage while you can, even if you can’t make the course fully, you STILL get the ebook too and can always refer back to it. Course members will be able to obtain ebook updates for free for the next year too.

 I’m in the middle of moving house, so I can’t get everything done as quickly as I would like but it will be worth the wait I promise <smiles>

(note changed link to affiliate link)

I was glad to learn that Alex Tuskinsky a long time FrontPage Addon Developer had decided to revamp his site and addons and even make two new ones. Alex currently teaches web design and development at Bergen Community College, New Jersey and is a master at ASP.Net.

To that end he has produced three DVD Video Tutorials called:

Introduction to ASP.NET programming

These take you through the basics of programming using Visual Basic.NET on the ASP.NET platform. The videos are narrated and you can watch an example on his site. The DVDs are physically shipped.

• Visual Web Developer Express 2005
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
• ASP.NET Programming
• Creating and running queries
• Build a complete ASP.NET web site that uses SQL Server as the back-end data
  engine
• ASP.NET Security features

Best of all, if you have questions as you take the course, you can email Alex and get additional assistance as needed. All tools required for the class are completely free and can be downloaded from Microsoft. As well as his revamped FrontPage Addons his two new Expression Web Addons consist of the following:

Media Manager 2007 Expression Web Addon

Using your favourite players you can easily embed video and audio files into your web site. Supported players are:

• Apple QuickTime Player
• Adobe Flash Player
• Microsoft Media Player
• RealOne Player

Not only can Media Manager upload your media content to your web server. Media can
be embedded from either within your web site, a url link or a file from your hard drive.

Embedded Media Fix Expression Web Addon

Fix resolves the Microsoft Internet Explorer issue of activating interactive controls. Learn more information about this problem from the MSDN Library web site and about how Microsoft Internet Explorer handles ActiveX controls, and the impact of this behaviour on accessibility tools and applications hosting the WebBrowser Control.

EMF can either scan all or selected files on your site and replace all <object>, <embed> and <applet> tags with JavaScript code, storing the original HTML as JavaScript, in a separate, external file. This allows the controls to be active by default, without further user intervention.

NOTE: As always, existing customers can download an update completely free of charge. Simply login to your account and download the latest version. The same as many other Developers Alex would love to hear your thoughts on wish list Expression Web Addons, so why not drop him a line?

The addins, as one bundle include :

• SiteSeal (Recently updated for MS Expression)
• Picture Splitter (Recently updated for MS Expression. Currently free but
  very sellable)
• Tables Tool (Recently updated for MS Expression. Currently free but very
  sellable)
• PowerTag+ 2006. (FP. META tagging with other tools)
• Cool Cursors.

So why are XZAKT Media selling these?

Over recent years XZAKT Media has concentrated much of their development down
a Flash and Mulitmedia line of products.  Rather than pull these other very useful products off the market they would rather see them carry on or be further developed by someone who would like to support them and grow their own addin development business.

What would you get?

The buyer will receive all source code (excluding user registration modules common to other products that XZAKT Media will continue with) and full rights to modify and sell if desired under their own label.  XZAKT Media will not persue the development of these products or create competing products for the period of at least 3 years, if at all. 

So how much?

This is currently open to offer.  Five products with full source code and complete selling and modification rights may be worth $500 in one mind or $2500 to another.  All enquiries or bids should be sent to info@xzmedia.com by mid October 2007.