The World WideWeb is continually becoming more complex in sophistication. To get attention and be credible, your site has to have professional-quality graphics. It needs to be usable and give your visitors an interactive and compelling experience. For professional graphic designers and Web site architects, it’s a golden age, because there’s so much work to do and the standards are so high.Those who aren’t artists, programmers, or designers are left wondering how to achieveall of those cool effects: how to make their Web sites user-friendly and eye-catching while maintaining Web standards. Microsoft’s suite of graphics and design tools, collectively called Expression Studio, provides a terrific option for anyone who wants to create high-quality graphics,Web presentations, or user interfaces.This book serves as an introduction to using Expression Studio to create Web sites, graphics, and presentations, and to organize and edit media files. You’ll learn how to use the Expression Studio programs individually, and you’ll also learn how easy it is to export files and projects from one application to another. Each section of the book covers a specific program, so you can read the book from cover to cover to get a complete idea of how the entire suite works together, or just jump to specific topics of interest on the program you want to learn more about. By the end of the book, you’ll be creating interactive sites that utilize Cascading Style Sheets and databases with Expression Web, creating and manipulating images with Expression Design, cataloging and keeping track of your content and creations with Expression Media, and putting it all together with Expression Blend.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 5 Ratings

Not what it says - 2008-03-06
Reviewer Rating:
This is NOT Introduction to Microsoft Expression Design.
It's Introduction to Microsoft Expression Studio.

It's an OK basic introduction to the apps that make up Studio.

Great start for first-time Expression Studio users - 2009-04-12
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book as a means to get my feet wet in each of the 4 primary programs in Microsoft's Studio Suite. I expected this book to guide me through the basic necessities of web design and web content design, and I was in no way disappointed.
This book breaks into 4 sections, one for each program, and is very formulaic in its approach. Each section starts by explaining the program's purpose in use, walks the reader through the interface in general, then go into detail with each control in the program with exercises and more explanation. It is also emphasized when and where one program can feed content into another, such as importing images from Design into a web page in Expression Web or a Silverlight project in Expression Blend.
Readers looking for a book that guides them through the entire web creation process will be disappointed. This book gives just enough information to train users for the basics. I personally would have liked the book to feature a practice project that would span through all four programs, complete with sample files, but there is no such provision. Once you know how each program works, you're on your own.
As such, I suggest purchasing this book only if you have NO IDEA what is going on with Expression Studio. If you have some experience in web design already, a more specialized book, such as "Special Edition: Using Microsoft Expression Web (or Web 2)" from Que publishing would be way more worth your while in the long run. If you're like me and just starting, you'll want to upgrade to a more comprehensive book anyway. But the idea of this book is to INTRODUCE users to Studio, without scaring people away with too much techy jargon and detail. For that, this book serves its purpose well.

Almost Great - 2009-01-26
Reviewer Rating:
Having never heard of Expression Studio I needed something that would give me a high level overview of each program in the suite. This book does exactly that. It introduces you to the software with plenty of screen shots, tips, function lists and keyboard shortcuts. There are "mini-tutorials" to help you get a feel for each GUI and, where possible, the author has pointed out any not-so-obvious features that may assist you in your work.

I was mildly annoyed at the authors inclusion of unsolicited advice regarding SEO and web etiquette. While it was decent advice, (commonly offered elsewhere) it was out of place in a book meant to introduce software functionality.

Good book but covers more than I needed - 2009-06-22
Reviewer Rating:
I ordered this book when I upgraded from FrontPage to Expression Web 2. The book looks great and will be a great help I am sure but I was unaware that Microsoft has an entire Expression Studio suite and this book covers them all. Needless to say, I will not be using several of the programs so 1/3 to 1/2 of the book will be of no value to me. The book came up when I searched Amazon for Expression Web 2. I guess you need to be aware that the search brings up any book which contains part or all of Expression Web 2. The book is well organized and presented though and I would recommend it. The others I previewed didn't look as useful. By the way, I don't judge a book by its cover but by its index. That is where I turn when I have a problem. This one has the best index.

Works for me... - 2009-02-17
Reviewer Rating:
I got exactly what I expected from this book. A great introduction to the programs in MS Expression Studio.

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