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:)

• Emily Gulledge – First Prize Expression Web 3.0 Product Key
• Lorie Johnson – Second Prize Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v2.0
• Joyce Reid -   Second Prize  Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebook v2.0
• Mike LeGay -    Third Prize Expression Web Tips Ebooks Vol l & ll
• Miguel Gin -   Third Prize  Expression Web Tips Ebooks Vol l & ll
• Gaurav Kale -   Third Prize  Expression Web Tips Ebooks Vol l & ll
• Debbie Miller -   Special Prize Spawn for Expression Web
• Les Bain -   Special Prize Spawn for Expression Web

These prizes are not to be missed.

One fully working copy of Expression Web 3.0
Two Migrating from FrontPage to Expression Web Ebooks v2.0  (fully updated for EW 3.0)
Three Expression Web Tips Ebooks Vol l & ll  (fully updated for EW 3.0)

We did want to complete the rest of the twelve days of Christmas however we had to stop at the third day ;0) We did manange to sneak in a couple of special extras though.

Two Spawn Addins for Expression Web for versions 1.0 or 2.0 with a free upgrade to version 3.o when it becomes available (Note: The Spawn addin for EW 3.0 is now out)

Expression Web Xmas 2009/New Year 2010 Giveaway dates:

23rd December 2009 -  15th January 2010

So if you want to cheer yourself up for Christmas and the new yea,r enter now to be in with a chance of something nice to play with, which no true geek can resist. (new software)

What do you have to do to enter the drawing?

In YOUR OWN WORDS write about our giveaway.

You can write about it on your

• Blog
• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

In fact anywhere you have a online presence. Then when you have done so, fill in the form on the link above with your Name, email address and the link to your write-up and we will enter you into the drawing for the giveaway. Plus we will list your link on our website at the end of the giveaway.

For FULL details see Expression Web Giveaways

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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.

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

The Expression Web Giveaway Winners have now been announced

Now if you are unlucky not to get your hands on all these Expression Web goodies, never fear, we will be holding  xmas draw with the same goodies, and perhaps something extra just because its Christmas!

Watch this space:)

• Expression Web 3.0
• Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web 3 in 24 Hours (signed)
• A limited edition custom ‘Design Is Philosophy’ t-shirt

Morten Rand-Hendriksen a Microsoft MVP – Expression Web has announced the above prizes as giveaways. For 2nd and 3rd prizes you get a signed copy of his newly published Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web 3 in 24 Hours (also signed).

What do you have to do to be in with a chance?

1. Follow @mor10 on Twitter
2. Tweet the following message:

Win an Expression Web 3 package incl software, Teach Yourself xWeb 3 book + Tshirt from @mor10. Details here: http://bit.ly/VEG6R

If you have not joined Twitter yet it is simple to pick up an account just go to http://twitter.com/ and start an account

How and when will the winners be selected?

The draw will take place on Wednesday October 7th. After Morten has informed you of your win you then have two days to give him your contact information.

- PS Morten is not the only one giving away Expression Web Goodies. Watch this space for future Expression Web giveaways

What is the Microsoft MVP Award?

 ”The Microsoft MVP Award recognizes exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who voluntarily share their high quality, real world expertise with others. Microsoft MVPs are a highly select group of experts representing technology’s best and brightest who share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others. Worldwide, there are over 100 million participants in technical communities; of these participants, there are fewer than 4,000 active Microsoft MVPs.”

• MVP Award
• Frequently Asked Questions

Onwards and upwards:)

Take the Twtpoll and see the results:

It has been ten years this year since I launched my first FrontPage help and Resources Website, with much biting of fingers, exorbitant domain and hosting fees. (That’s where I learnt you do not buy your domain from your host and that when you have a name in mind buy the domain right away, I waited too long and the .com was taken). I had actually started the concept of the site on free hosting in 1997, and moved through a variety of free hosting and a friends sub domain till I took the plunge. (Yes if you look at the whois for AccessFP you will see it does not begin in 1999 however that only applies if you stay with the same domain host, and trust me I was not staying with my first domain host, I then moved it to a co.uk company but I found Namecheap suited me rather better and cheaper and where I remain to this day.)

The concept was, that I would write down anything and everything I found out about FrontPage and how to use the program, so that I would have a store of information for myself in one handy place, and I could share it with everyone else too. I continued to do that with all the versions of FrontPage and along the way making other sites for FrontPage Tips, FrontPage Ezine, FrontPage Ebooks, FrontPage Addons Then Microsoft decided to bring out a Web Editor that complied with standards – Microsoft Expression Web. Having been through the full gauntlet of using the bots in FrontPage, and learning how to implement better methods, from version to version and from year to year, I had started to apply these as I started to use FrontPage 2000, and progressed tenfold by the time it came to FrontPage 2003. So that when Expression Web beta came out, I wanted to know what it could do for me that FrontPage 2003 could not. Not only did it have a CSS Editor similar to TopStyle, which truth to tell I used in a limited way, EW has a feature that warns me when my code has wonks in it, and it tells where to go to help me work out what I am doing wrong. You have to set Expression Web up however to give you the best possible responses to that end I wrote a Free Setting up Expression Web Ebook for both versions.

During this time I obtained Dreamweaver 1.2 and found it to be extremely hard to use, but I did write an article on how to use FrontPage and Dreamweaver together.

So why am I rambling on? The thing is, Expression Web meets today’s Web standards and what’s more for the woman in the street aka myself, who grew with FrontPage from the old free version of FrontPage Express through from 98, 2000, 2002 and 2003 to Expression 1.0 and 2.0, whom though a Microsoft MVP – FrontPage (Five year anniversary this January btw) is still just a housewife. I regard helping people with Expression Web still just my hobby, something I enjoy very much. If I can grow and learn and ask Why? So can others. Dreamweaver is beyond most people  ‘in the street’, I dare say nowadays I could get to grips with it because of the experience I’ve had over the last ten years with editors, however the point I am trying to make is, is that Expression Web is for the masses. Some old time FrontPage users don’t think so, that’s because they are still stuck in using the old bots, I was there, I did that, merely moving away from the most insidious bot of the lot the Navigation bot, upon which a website hinges. (Menus are the mainstay of a site) I moved to FrontPage Page Includes in FrontPage 2000 for my navigation and stopped receiving complaints about my hard to navigate menus in my rather large accessfp.net site.

Expression Web meets standards, WebAssist even have a few addons for it. If your going to apply to the people that NEED to learn more about standards you do not push Dreamweaver at them, you include Expression Web in your assessment!

So lets start off the next Ten Years right, include a web editor like Microsoft Expression Web when your exhorting Web Standards to your audience. Not only is it cheaper than so called ‘professional’ web editors such as DreamWeaver, it is much much easier to use. However make no mistake, it is ALWAYS YOU that makes the website not the editor, you are the one in control.

University? Are you kidding? The first place web design is taught is where it needs to change BEFORE it gets to the University level. My local college ran a ‘web design’ course. Trust me it was painful particularly the frames section. I thought it was just my local college that was not one not two but three or four years behind. From what I’ve read online it seems the problem is more widespread.

1. The people that hire the people that teach the courses, should do their homework on what is expected in that subject that SHOULD be taught.
2. This needs to start before the university level too.

The article supports getting active with the local community if you are able to do that to help the teachers. However, in order to teach standards it really does not require that much in the way of resources. There really is no excuse when it comes to common or garden web design that such stomach crunching methods as frames are still taught.

However this is blog is focused on Expression Web, so how does Expression Web fit into all this?

Many colleges are STILL teaching FrontPage, not only FP but the older versions, not only the fp and the folder versions but, Horrors! THE BOTS, Shared borders, themes and more. WHY? The people teaching either are not web designers or are pimping themselves. You cannot pretend to be THAT far behind and have a passion for the product. ( Previously FrontPage which has evolved into Expression Web ).

Sometime last year I joined a Newsgroup where some teachers were asking for feedback on their new curriculum based on Expression Web. Needless to say once again it involved absolute positioning and advocating continuing use of some bots.

If your going to teach Web Design do it The Right Way.

If you have not set up your Template or DWT to include basic meta tags such as Description and Keywords, you can quickly insert the code by right clicking in Design View and choosing Page Properties. There you can insert or edit your Page Title and enter your Description and Keywords text. The code for the metas is automatically made in html. If you wish to just insert the meta tag codes press the space bar in both the Description and Keywords panes and press OK, the code will be inserted, awaiting your text insertions at a later date.