Microsoft Expression Web review

With more people using alternatives to Internet Explorer, and web standards compliance becoming increasingly important, Microsoft's decision to replace FrontPage with Expression Web makes perfect sense.

Like an automatic car belching black smoke, FrontPage was simple to use but made a nasty mess. Its non-standard code output meant websites often worked poorly in non-Microsoft browsers.

Expression Web's interface, despite retaining some FrontPage/Office elements, is based on palettes flanking the main workspace that shows web pages you're working on. Any web page consists of code that produces the desired layout onscreen, and in Expression Web you can work in Design view, Code view or Split view, which shows both code and layout. The palettes are straightforward, can be rearranged, and are sometimes contextual, previewing CSS styles.

If you're unfamiliar with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), you'll need to brush up, since Expression Web's workflow is largely based on this important technology. Video tutorials, a quick start guide and a CSS chart help, but it'll all be unfamiliar if you're used to FrontPage. Once you know CSS, you'll welcome Expression Web's drag-and-drop capabilities, excellent code editing features (including red squiggles flagging suspect code), ease of use, and the good code it generates.

Expression Web isn't without its shortcomings. Aspects of the workflow could be more helpful, the site management features are awkward, and the FTP functions, which you'd use to upload your site, are poor. And while we understand Microsoft's interest in pushing its own technologies, it seems bizarre to omit support for PHP, which is used on servers to create dynamic web pages.

Despite its faults, Expression Web is an impressive start for Microsoft's new design strategy, and it's great to see the company making a successful stab at standards-aware web design. For Adobe's Dreamweaver remains a more compelling choice as a website creation tool with serious grunt. Roll on version 2.