The first book on Microsoft's Expression Web has just been released. The book is called "Special Edition Using Microsoft Expression Web" by Jim Cheshire. Jim has been an expert FrontPage user (and author) for many years and he has written an easy to read and comprehensive book for anybody wanting to learn how to use Expression Web.
Usually the first book available on a new software release is skimpy in content, but this book contains over 700 pages, covers a lot material, and organizes the chapters in related sections. The book begins by going over the basics of Expression Web including an overview of: the features, the Expression Web interface, the Task Panes and Properties settings. The next section of the book concentrates on how to create and manage an Expression Web web site which includes instructions on how to publish the site and offers tips on how to overcome common problems.
Several chapters explain how to use Expression Web to create and use Cascading Style Sheets in a web site. It also gives a clear explanation of how you can use them external, embedded and inline. Later chapters get into more complex topics such as Javascript coding which includes several useful examples on how to verify data in form fields and how to preload images. Even VBA macros are explained which can cut your time when performing repetitive tasks.
Finally, the book spends several chapters going over ASP.NET features such as the AdRotator, Calendar, SiteMapPath, the Master Page and the Wizard Control. Using some of the ASP.NET controls can be challenging for a user who is inexperienced in using them, and the author does a good job of explaining each step and has plenty of screenshots which make it easy to follow along.
The book comes with a CD-ROM which contains such goodies as: code samples from the book, the entire text of the book in PFD format, and full working versions of Logo Creator and DHTML Menu Builder Lite. The author also maintains a web site (http://www.jimcobooks.com) which contains Flash-based Expression Web tutorials along with useful information for FrontPage users who are upgrading to Expression Web.
This book is packed with information on Expression Web and would be a great book for any beginner or intermediate user of the software. At over 700 pages and with a CD containing useful code and software tools, the price of $39.99 is a good price too. The book is available at retailers such as Amazon and Borders.
Special Edition Using Microsoft Expression Web by Jim Cheshire
Que Publishing, ISBN: 978-0789736055