VA Toolbox: Microsoft Expression Web

Until early 2009, I had not been doing a whole lot of website building/maintenance work. But as the year progressed, I found myself spending more and more time taking care of various websites and ezines, some of them requiring me to go into HTML and CSS codes. I had been using a free HTML editor called Nvu for a while. But at some point, I’ve decided it would make sense to invest in a more powerful HTML editor to be more effective.

Naturally, I first thought I was going to buy the favorite tool among professional webmasters: Dreamweaver. Well, very long story short, that purchase did not happen, and instead, I bought Microsoft Expression Web, a successor of Front Page.

To be honest, I was not expecting much from Expression Web, mainly due to the not-so-great experience I had with Front Page years ago. Also the retail price ($250 less than Dreamweaver) told me I probably should be prepared for a little inconveniences. BUT, to my pleasant surprise, I found Expression Web to be a wonderful helper!

I’m still learning to become more proficient in CSS, but Expression Web’s CSS tools are very intuitive and easy to use. If HTML codes are not used properly or missing, Expression Web warns you with a short comment explaining what is wrong. I know “live view” is considered to be a fantastic feature with the latest version of Dreamweaver, but Expression Web’s preview feature works just fine to preview the page. Oh, and I found Expression Web loads faster than Dreamweaver, which I love.

If you are looking for an economical alternative to Dreamweaver, I highly recommend checking out Expression Web.