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Expression Web 4.0 Launch Event

Monday, May 24th, 2010

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

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?

Posted in Expression Web, Expression Web 4.0 | 1 Comment »

Win Expression Web 3.0 by creating a custom 404 page

Tuesday, 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/

Tags: competition, contests, giveaway
Posted in Expression Web Contests | 10 Comments »

Free Site Template Layouts

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Site Templates

Expression Web has included within it, generic Site Templates which can be accessed via File – New – Web Site – Templates in EW 1.0 & 2.0 and Site – New – Templates in 3.0. However these generic Site Templates leave something to be desired. After I was inspired by a post on the xweb team blog to write an in-depth tutorial on how to Register Custom Templates in Expression Web Pat Geary and I via our joint site Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web decided it was time to produce some basic layout templates for every one to enjoy within their own Expression Web programs. Based on Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor for Expression Web produced by Webassit but no longer in production we have created 12 Site Templates which come with a linked style sheet and dwt and commented in-depth for your ease of use. Included is a search box and contact form with instructions on their usage and full instructions on working with these and other aspects of the site. You can download your very own set at Expression Web Site Templates.

The Site Templates come in four flavours

One column, with top navigation, header, and footer
Two column, with left sidebar, top navigation, header, and footer
Two column, right sidebar, top navigation, header, and footer
Three columns, left and right sidebar, top navigation

Within each of these basic structures come the following modes;

Fixed to 800px - Page and column widths are set with pixels and do not resize if the browser window or browser text size changes.

Fixed to 1024px – Page and column widths are set with pixels and do not resize if the browser window or browser text size changes.

Liquid – Page and column widths are set with percentages which allows them to resize when the browser window changes with the exception of the three column templates which has the left and right side columns set in pixel widths.

You can download them in zipped packs of 3 for easy use. Full instructions on the precise place to download them to, to ensure you can access them from
within Expression Web itself is provided. These Site Template are FREE and a gift to the Expression Web community. They will work with all versions of Expression Web.

Included are the following pages, which explain why you should have each of these basic pages in site, and how you go about making or writing content for each of them.

When you have downloaded your Expression Web Site Templates and tweaked the basic layout with your own colours and graphics, please let us know your site link and we will include it as an example of what you can do. If you have any questions or feedback please contact us.

Tags: dwt, dwts, site templates, templates, web templates
Posted in Expression Web Templates | 11 Comments »

New Free Expression Web DWT for Xmas 2009

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Cracked Ice DWT

A new free Expression Web DWT called Cracked Ice DWT is now available for download. Brought to you from Any Expression Web Designs for Xmas 2009.

Along with the free template you can use it to follow the new tutorial Register your Custom Template in Expression Web 3.0, the tutorial also lets you know you can do the same with the previous versions of EW 1.0 and 2.0. Never have to go searching for your favourite designs again.

NOTE: Watch out for a series of free basic Site templates that you can be sure are well coded coming your way soon. Start off the right way.

Any Expression have also made available at the Microsoft Gallery their three Setting up Expression Web eboooks for each version.

Posted in expression web, Expression Web Templates | 1 Comment »

Expression Web Tips Ebooks – New additions for EW 3.0

Friday, November 13th, 2009

The two Expression Web Tips Ebooks Volumes have been updated to reflect usage of Expression Web 3.0

Each ebook is priced at $7 however if you buy both together you can save $1 and get them for $13

Each ebook has 26 Expression Web Tips – one for each day of the week – There are guest authors on both ebooks however the majority of the tips are written by myself.

With the second volume you get a bonus of a Expression Web Query of “Find and Replace any border size” with Tip 49

You can read more about Expression Queries and pick up a few free ones as well.

Posted in Expression Web Ebooks | 1 Comment »

Expression Web SuperPreview Indepth

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Expression Web SuperPreview is a brand new feature within Expression Web 3.0 Included also is Snapshot which is a sort of mini preview alongside your Design and Code Views. The Expression Web SuperPreview Tutorial along with its companion Expression Web SuperPreview Starter Kit go indepth and touch on almost every aspect of the application and the methods you can employ to find coding errors and how to fix them. With SuperPreview you not only have to understand what you are seeing but you have to understand what the problem is and then how to go about finding a fix for it.

If you don’t have FireFox as one of your testing browsers you should, not only for testing but for the excellent FireFox addons that help with web design

Download your starter kit and follow along with the tutorial for a better insight into the problems facing designers today.

Posted in Expression Web Tutorials | 4 Comments »

Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Ebook sale ends

Saturday, October 31st, 2009

On Monday 2nd November we will closing our Summer sale of our Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook from $22 back to the standard price of $29.

If you want to beat the credit crunch grab your copy at the sale price now.

You will be eligible to obtain free upgrade to the ebook by joining a group used only for informing you of new upgrades to the ebook.

On Monday we will also be upgrading the ebook to include more information about how do things with Expression Web 3.0. Included will be a new template made by Pat Geary called Misty Morn which includes three separate layouts and a bonus of a working form that you can customize with your own information.

If you want to treat your friends and family for xmas why not stockpile now at the lower price?

Posted in Expression Web Ebooks | No Comments »

Spawn addon for Expression Web 2.0

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Spawn for Expression Web

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.

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

Posted in Expression Web Addons | No Comments »

WebAssist drop Expression Web Addons

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

For those that were lucky enough to buy the WebAssist addon Eric Meyer’s CSS Sculptor for Expression Web or other EW addons you will continue to be supported. However, the products are no longer available. This is a great pity because the people who need it most are the FrontPage users that have had the courage to migrate to Expression Web, and a helping hand with templates which the CSS Sculptor provided very handily indeed is a asset no longer being produced. After all Eric Meyer’s (the master of CSS) coding could be relied on and trusted and you could get on with the business of creating your content without worrying about the html or CSS.

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.