Microsoft Expression Studio

Microsoft's new Expression lineup includes four applications: Web for building Web sites, Media for organizing images and other digital media, Design for drawing vector graphics, and Blend for building rich media applications. This new package encroaches upon imaging and coding territory long served by Adobe as well as competitors such as Corel.

Most of the Expression programs require that you run at least Windows XP SP2 or Windows Server 2003 SP1 or newer, or the new Windows Vista. Make sure to check the ReadMe section of Microsoft's Web site before installation. You may have to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (or 3.0 for Expression Design) and uninstall any beta versions of Microsoft Office 2007. A trial download of Expression Web, a final product, is available at CNET Download.com. The other programs remain in development and can be found at Microsoft's Web site.

Once it's running, Expression Web offers a variety of templates--not as many as Dreamweaver CS3 offers, but enough to get started with a basic personal or small business Web site. You also can import a site you already have via FrontPage extensions, FTP, HTTP, WebDAV, or files on your hard drive.

Because Web resembles Dreamweaver, its multiple panes and views of nested folders appear less friendly for Web design newbies than its predecessor, FrontPage. However, this is a plus for professional coders who live and breathe Cascading Style Sheets and XML. (Microsoft still offers simple online tools for Web design newbies, such as templates that accompany a free domain name through Office Live.)

You can view the code, design, or both at once while docking Task Panes on the left-hand side of the interface. Tabs along the top organize open HTML pages. If you're an experienced coder, it's easy to drag and drop code elements onto the page in Expression Web. Plus, clicking on an element in the code view will highlight its corresponding content in the design view.

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