Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Microsoft Expression Web 4: Comprehensive Website Design Tool With Features Galore

There are many applications available for professional quality web design and the web developers pick the one that suits their need the best. There are frameworks and stand alone web design tools. While a large number of web designers opt for Adobe Dreamweaver, there are some alternative solutions available. A web design and development company looking for a feature rich web development platform can consider the latest iteration of Expression Web, from the stable of Microsoft. The version 4 of this HTML editor is aimed at the web development professionals who want a comprehensive package to cater to all their web design needs.

The interested developers can download the latest version of the app from the Microsoft website. This is better compared to purchasing products online which may take a while to arrive at the destination. The users can buy the product or use it as a trial. An installation wizard guides the users throughout. The UI of the software is quite simple and there are right and left panels. The panels accommodate the files and documents linked to a project, the CSS elements, as well as the style sheet elements. The panels can be hidden if the users want so. Overall, the interface is quite intuitive and customizable.
The interface however contains some much used features within menus which can be a tad hard for the first time users. They may face difficulty in locating these features and need to refer to the documentation. Expression Web 4 is better suited for those web designers who already have the experience of working with other web editor tools. The app presents the different CSS elements in a user friendly graphic way thereby making it easier for coding.



The app offers various viewing options during designing websites. There are code and design view modes along with a Split view that actually is more practical. The veteran developers will however opt for the code view. The Site View is very helpful as it gives the users an accurate graphical list containing all images, folders and HTML files. This also makes editing single components easier. The Publishing View is enabled only after the developers link the files of the website to the server. This helps in keeping track of published files. The Problems View is very useful, as is evident from its name. It points out issues like Slow Loading Pages and Unlinked Files. The Hyperlinks View shows how the pages in a website are interlinked in a graphical layout.

To facilitate website maintenance the software offers the developers with a number of reporting features, accessible from the Tools menu. The CSS Report, SEO Report and Compatibility Report are quite helpful for locating errors and issues in websites. This also helps in finding issues in content writing in a website and modifying it accordingly. The report features are helpful for the advanced users and the plethora of data may confuse the beginners. The web developers worried about cross browser compatibility will surely appreciate its SuperPreview tool. This enables them to view the website in various browsers. It also saves future modification needs.

The tool is moderately priced compared to the industry leading apps. The owners of older versions can upgrade to version 4 at reasonable pricing. The Ultimate version comes with apps like Expression Design, Expression Blend, SketchFlow and Encoder Pro.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6732625

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