Category Archives: Expression Web

Apr 28
Expression Web, My Book 1

In rewrite mode: New version of my book on the way!

Since Amazon.com was kind enough to list my book months before it’s done and I’ve been Tweeting about it for weeks there really is no reason to pretend it’s a secret any more: I am currently in the process of revising my book Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web in 24 Hours 3 for the upcoming release of Expression Web 3 which is slated for some time later this summer.

Needless to say writing a book about software that not only is not out yet but is not even finished yet is a bit of a challenge. And like last year (when I wrote the first version of the book) I will probably spend the next couple of months in constant revision mode making new screen grabs, changing tutorials to fit a not-yet-completed user interface and so on. But hey, I’m not complaining: Writing these books means I have to learn and understand every minute detail about the software. And knowing your tools inside out makes for a faster and more productive work routine.

The new book is more than just an update to fit the new user interface: Over the past year I’ve received countless emails from readers with questions and comments about everything from how to save files in Expression Web to how I got a book deal and I’ve taken all these comments, suggestions and criticisms along with my own experiences and thoughts to rewrite many of the chapters and add new and exciting content. And yes, my sentences are just as long in the book!

New features in the book

The new version of the book will, amongst other things, include:

  • a completely new project that the reader will build from the ground up. The new project has a better design, more flexibility and new choices for the designer to make the site her own. The idea behind the new project is that once the site is completed by the end of Hour 24, the reader can simply replace the content from the book with her own content and launch the site.
  • New menu tutorials showcasing vertical and horizontal CSS based menus as well as a CSS based drop-down menu.
  • A CSS layout tutorial explaining how you can use CSS to create multiple different layouts within one site without having to make separate style sheets.
  • An entire chapter on cross-browser testing using SuperPreview and the other accessibility and reporting tools built into Expression Web 3.

I am currently rewriting Hour 18 and, having skipped some chapters, still have about 10 to go (plus a couple of apendixes and a bonus chapter) so if you have comments, questions, concerns or anything else you want to say before I wrap this baby up, please feel free to put it in the comments below or send me an email. The book is written to help you so if you need help, speak up!

That said, go to Amazon.com and buy the book now. That way you know you’ll have it the minute it comes out!

Mar 18
Expression Web, News 5

Introducing Expression Web SuperPreview – Cross-browser testing at your fingertips

Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview BetaAbout a year ago I got an email from my friend Anna Ullrich from the Microsoft Expression team. She wanted to know if I’d be interested in providing some feedback on a new, exciting and super secret application they were developing for the next release of Expression Web. Being obsessively curious I couldn’t turn that offer down and a few weeks later Anna and Boris Feldman drove up from Redmond to meet me at the Microsoft office in downtown Vancouver.

What they presented to me – after the signing of numerous Non-Disclosure Agreements – was a pile of sketches of a future browser preview application with the working title “SuperPreview”. The premise was simple: During the authoring of a website the developer or designer can test the current output and get feedback in the form of warnings, graphic overlays and onion skinning showing how the page will appear and change depending on what browser is being used.

Now browser previews is not a new idea by any means – there are tons of free and paid online services that do the job and most if not all web design applications offer multi-browser previews – but all the existing services operate on a browser-by-browser basis. What was novel about SuperPreview was the idea of viewing all the browser outputs simultaneously and on top of each other so you can really see what the difference is.

As a designer/developer cross browser testing is a daily routine that often leads to my computer getting some multi-lingual verbal abuse. Because even with perfect, standards based and properly validating code there is no guarantee the site you design will look the same across all browsers and all platforms. What makes cross-browser testing truly tedious is that for every page you have to open multiple browsers and look a them individually. And if you want to find minute positional shifts or other differences you often have to flip back and forth between browsers or use screen grabs or worse (I sometimes use whiteboard marker on my screen!). Any application that simplifies this process would be a huge help.

So for two hours Anna and Boris listened to my rambling feedback and lofty suggestions and at the end we parted ways, they with a pile of notes, me with a deep and profound desire to build a time machine so I wouldn’t have to wait for the damn thing to be developed.

And today, finally, the wait is over. In conjunction with the MIX09 conference in Las Vegas Microsoft Expression Web SuperPreview is now available for download in public beta. Get the whole story »

Feb 25
Events, Expression Web 0

Speaking at Interactive Panel Discussion: The Right Presentation Layer for Your Solution

I’ve been invited to participate in an interactive panel discussion about Microsoft’s many web development and presentation tools called “The Right Presentation Layer for Your Solution”. The discussion takes place online tomorrow (Thursday Feb. 26, 2009) at 11am to noon Pacific time (2pm to 3pm EST). To see, hear and participate in the discussion you have to register by following this link. Below is the press release in its entirety.

Interactive Panel Discussion: The Right Presentation Layer for Your Solution

By the end of this webcast, you will be able to:

  • Use some of the presentation layer tips and tricks provided by the panel
  • Gain some knowledge of what presentation layer technologies Microsoft provides that you can use in your solutions
  • And most importantly, have your questions answered!

The Presentation Layer of an application can be pivotal to the adoption of your solution by users. The right technology for the presentation layer should be the one that makes an emotional connection with the user and helps make the user more productive.

Join us for an interactive panel discussion from some of the foremost experts in user experience, effective presentation layer design and development. This is intended to be a discussion between you and the panel of experts, so come prepared to ask your questions about picking the presentation layer for solution!
This event is focused on Custom Developers, ISVs and Interactive Designers.

This webcast is appropriate for both technical and business decision makers.

W E B C A S T

Thursday February 26, 2009

Time: 2:00PM to 3:00PM EST

Event ID: 1032385445

Register Now

Dec 23
Expression Web, Microsoft Expression, News 1

Get Microsoft Expression Products 50% off for the Holidays!

Just before the Holidays this dropped into my inbox. It’s a great deal made even better by the fact that the Microsoft Expression line is already competitively priced. Add to that the great review Expression Web 2 got form PCMag.com and you have the perfect last-minute or belated gift for yourself or the web designer / developer in your life:

For a limited time (exact timeframe is TBD), there is a 50% off discount on Microsoft Expression Studio, Expression Blend and Expression Web through the new Microsoft Online Store. *This is US Only*

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/design-developer/category/6
http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/design/category/601

Nov 21
CSS, Expression Web, News 27

Pure CSS Drop-Down Menu tutorial – a slight omission

I just got a comment from a reader of my recent Expression Newsletter article The No-Code Way to a Pure CSS Horizontal Drop-Down Menu with Expression Web. He was having trouble getting the grey boxes to “fill out” properly which left the menu looking weird.

A quick review of his CSS told me the problem was he didn’t have the display property set to block. A slight omission for sure but I was more focused on where it originated. A quick read of the paragraph in the article showed me that somewhere in the editing (probably during my rigorous clean-up) this small but important piece of code was ommitted. Which means if people follow the tutorial step by step they’ll run into the same problem.

I’ve already informed the newsletter team of the issue and hopefully they’ll fix it presently. In the meantime, if you’ve run into this problem and you found your way to this blog, here is the full paragraph and the resulting code:

5th paragraph under the heading “Style the links”:

To set the height of the link go to the Block category and set the line-height attribute to 30px to match the height of the ul li style you defined earlier. The reason you are using the line-height attribute instead of the height attribute is that line-height automatically places the text at vertical center. If you were to use height you would have to set the vertical placement manually using padding. To set the width, go to the Position category and set width to 150px to match. Finally, to “fill out” the area with the background colour, go to the Layout category and set display to block.

The resulting code should look like this:

ul li a {
	background-color: #808080;
	color: #FFFFFF;
	width: 142px;
	display: block;
	text-decoration: none;
	line-height: 30px;
	padding-left: 8px;
}

You can find a full working version of the menu here and it’s CSS here for reference.