Few days ago I just got my hand on Microsoft’s Expression Web program (the final version). So what this “Expression Web” do? With its focus on CSS, XML, and other Web standards, this app lets you create modern, data-driven web sites. But one little problem, it isn’t built for novice. In simple words, it presents a difficult learning curve.

Microsoft’s earlier web authoring tools, such as FrontPage express never really bother with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), XML, and other industry standards, but this new baby got it all in under the sleeves. Expression Web places CSS, XML, and other industry standards at the core of its site design and management strategy. I am impressed to see it adheres to those Web standards closer than many competitors’ products do.

If you are a developer, you will simply love “Expression Web”-just like you love Adobe’s Dreamweaver. FrontPage will seem like a child’s play compare to this “Expression Web”. While the program still shields designers from much of the code underlying their pages, the resulting sites should meet all Web design and accessibility standards. The drawback is if you are non-coder, even with its many built-in CSS and XML helpers- you will need long hours of training to get the curve.

Expression Web is the first release in Microsoft’s Expression Studio. As you can guess this pack of programs for creative professionals will compete with Adobe’s industry-leading Creative Suite. Expression studio, which most probably releasing at the end of this year will also include-

• Expression Blend -Combines desktop and Web-application development (Visual Studio Standard added);
• Expression Media - Manages files and workflow;
• Expression Design- For creating interface graphics/design;

CSS is the key for better web designing; there is no doubt about it. But still you could develop and publish a site the old-fashioned way (without CSS) in Expression Web, CSS is the default for every new page and site you create, whether manually or from one of the program’s many templates. Expression Web made CSS creation as friendly as possible. When you choose a style, you see the attributes you can use for that style in a drop-down menu-just like Visual C# coding. The IntelliSense function(word recognition while typing) lets you type just a letter or two to select options, and you can drag small pieces of code–called “snippets”–from one of the program’s many palettes directly onto your page to add navigation elements, form fields, or other components. Cool isn’t it?

Another seriously cool feature is Expression Web’s support for XML and Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT), which permits developers to drag and drop links to dynamic XML data into pages and format them easily for presentation on the Web. Since Expression Web’s depend on Microsoft’s ASP.NET 2.0 frameworks, a developer can also sync or combine Visual Studio family of desktop application development tools into Web projects. As we know Microsoft, Expression Web most likely to work with the other members of the Expression Studio suite too.

Expression web maybe cheaper (announced price is $299) and with comes with lots of fancy features but yet no match for Dreamweaver’s integration power with other design applications in Adobe’s Creative Suite for team/group project development. Nonetheless “Expression web” is million times better choice compare to its predecessor FrontPage.

There is a 60 day free fully functional trial version available for download at Expression Studio site. You will require Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed and incase you have Microsoft Office 2007 beta programs installed you need to get rid of those.