My favorite Expression 4 features
Today at Internet Week in New York, we launched Expression Studio 4.
Expression 4 is a suite of professional design tools for building immersive user experiences for the desktop, mobile devices and the web.
There are a lot of new enhancements and exciting features in this release. Here are some of my favorite features of Expression 4.
1. Publishing SketchFlow Prototypes to SharePoint
Publishing your SketchFlow projects that are Silverlight-based to SharePoint provides an easy way to share your prototypes with your team. And the best thing is, once a prototype is published, reviewers can post their feedback right back to SharePoint, making it visible not just to the designers, but also to all other reviewers. Designers can also see feedback from many reviewers concurrently. Collaborative reviews of working, interactive prototypes just got a whole lot better.
2. New Behaviors in Blend
Expression Blend 4 includes new Behaviors designed to enhance your application design process. The new Behaviors enable you to do a lot more while keeping you focused on the art of creating compelling UI designs. Using the new Behaviors, you can for example take advantage of multi-touch, specify fluid transitions between layout changes, define conditional logic or interact more easily with the components of an MVVM application. There are also new Behaviors specifically for SketchFlow, including ones to preserve screen state and to exert greater control over the playback of SketchFlow Animations.
3. Design a UI without writing Code
Expression Blend 4 now lets you design many complex layouts without writing any code.
An example: imagine you want to create a radial list box that arranges its content along a circle, like a carousel. In Blend 4, instead of writing complicated layout code, you can simply draw the desired "shape" of your layout with one or more paths and Blend will take care of arranging the content appropriately. Best of all, this is not just a design time feature, but it works with data-driven list boxes, and supports animation, letting you create incredibly complex, rich and creative layouts as easy as you can draw a path.
4. Write Add-ins for Expression Web with HTML & JavaScript
As a web-savvy developer, you are probably comfortable with the languages of the web: JavaScript, HTML and CSS. In Expression Web 4, we have provided a way to extend the app using only the languages you already know. You can now add your own menu items, toolbar buttons, panels and even dialog boxes using only HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a simple XML manifest file. Do you have your own markup for creating online maps in pages? How about a custom Twitter feed? Now you can easily extend Expression Web to make it simple to add this content to any site you are working with.
5. Improve your search rankings with SEO Diagnostics
Our new SEO analysis not only includes the usual checks for duplicate or missing titles, meta tags and headers, but it also checks the content of search sensitive text, like link text and page titles, to make sure they don’t have overly general values like “click here” or “welcome” which aren’t going to add any search value to your pages.
We also include deep help topics that let you understand why these rules are important for getting a good search ranking. This documentation makes our reports more than a simple checklist; it helps you learn and master the art of SEO.
6. Encoding and broadcasting live events
With Expression Encoder 4 you can now broadcast live video to the IIS Smooth Streaming format to ensure uninterrupted playback on Silverlight over HTTP. Select either H.264 or VC-1 output, configure the number and size of the streams then publish directly to servers running IIS Media Services. The redesigned user interface allows you to easily select from multiple live sources and file-based content to create high-quality broadcast output in real time.
We've also used this release as an opportunity to simplify the product line-up of Expression to more closely correspond to the Visual Studio 2010 product family. These are the new Expression 4 products:
- Expression Web 4 Professional
- Expression Studio 4 Premium
- Expression Studio 4 Ultimate
Current owners of Expression Studio 3 or Expression Web 3 can upgrade at no additional cost to corresponding version 4 products: Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Expression Studio 4 Web Professional. Please visit the Expression site to learn more.
Namaste!
Comments
Anonymous
June 07, 2010
Thanks for update and tools released today. I already downloaded and started using this afternoon. I will say that I'm very disappointed that SketchFlow is not included in the Premium version. I feel that this should be one of the features included. I'm more dissappointed that Microsoft did not make it clear that this would not be included and should have stated up front what each MSDN subcription would support. My development team already purchased VS 2010 Premium w/ MSDN thinking the same features provided in Expression Studio 3 would be included in version 4.Anonymous
June 07, 2010
Thanks for update and tools released today. I already downloaded and started using this afternoon. I will say that I'm very disappointed that SketchFlow is not included in the Premium version. I feel that this should be one of the features included. I'm more dissappointed that Microsoft did not make it clear that this would not be included and should have stated up front what each MSDN subcription would support. My development team already purchased VS 2010 Premium w/ MSDN thinking the same features provided in Expression Studio 3 would be included in version 4.Anonymous
June 07, 2010
I'm EXTREMELY disappointed that Sketchflow is now only available to the Ultimate subscribers. I've been a happy SketchFlow user since its release, just finished reading the wonderful book 'Dynamic Prototyping', and have a Premium level MSDN subscriber since 1999.Anonymous
June 07, 2010
shaggygi, add me to the list disappointed. We received SketchFlow as part of our MSDN subscription as a Microsoft Partner & now it's gone!!Anonymous
June 07, 2010
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June 07, 2010
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June 07, 2010
I think the new features are great, especially the new Behaviors and Path layout. I've been using Blend 4 for a while now, so I'm glad to get my hands on the release version. While I personally don't care about SketchFlow, I agree with the sentiment that MS is pulling a Bait and Switch on existing users. I have some other issues too, which I address here: www.developingfor.net/.../expression-studio-4-released.htmlAnonymous
June 08, 2010
One main reason to purchase a Visual Studio Premium with MSDN Subsription has been the included license for the complete Expression Toolset. Especially the use of SketchFlow for Prototyping should become a main part in our development process. With the yesterday release of Expression 4 I am shocked that SketchFlow is no longer included with a premium subscription. In the new version I no longer can use what was promised to me when ordering the subscription. What will I have to do to further use SketchFlow? Must i upgrade to a double-priced Ultimate subscrition? My boss won't be amused to hear so. Microsoft, why do you do this? What will next be taken away from my toolset? Scary times are coming... Microsoft, please give us back Sketchflow!Anonymous
June 08, 2010
With version 4, we have taken steps to simplify our design tool offerings for customers and align them more closely with other familiar Microsoft toolsets and resources like Visual Studio and MSDN. At the recent launch of Visual Studio, we also announced Professional, Premium and Ultimate tiers (each tier also containing differing /more features with each respective step-up) and Expression follows the same tiered model. Customers who purchased Visual Studio Premium from a retailer will receive an offer to purchase Expression Ultimate at a special price of $249.95 within the next few weeks. Volume Licensing customers will receive a 50% discount on purchases of an Expression Ultimate License with Software Assurance. The volume licensing promotion will appear on the volume licensing price list in a few months and of course all MSDN Premium customers will continue to have access to SketchFlow in Expression Studio 3. Polita Paulus MicrosoftAnonymous
June 08, 2010
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June 08, 2010
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June 08, 2010
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June 09, 2010
Leaving out Sketchflow from Expression 4 Premium is nothing short of disgusting. Way to go ahead and make complete morons out of yourselves, guys. This is the #1 most touted feature in Blend, and you're making it Ultimate only, effectively shutting out ALL your partners (including Gold ones!) from making use of it without paying extra. Looking forward to the retraction post on that decision that will come within the week, I suppose. Just like adding Expression 3 to MSDN in the first place.Anonymous
June 09, 2010
KK For MSDN certified partners we are creating a partner-only Expression Ultimate SKU at a 40% discount. This will be available soon. ======================== Jon Harris MicrosoftAnonymous
June 09, 2010
I'd just like to second the general opinion that taking sketchflow away from MSDN Premium subscribers is ...annoying. I wasn't aware of the expression "bait and switch" until today, but now I guess I've both heard and experienced it.Anonymous
June 09, 2010
I'd just like to second the general opinion that taking sketchflow away from MSDN Premium subscribers is ...annoying. I wasn't aware of the expression "bait and switch" until today, but now I guess I've both heard and experienced it.Anonymous
June 10, 2010
Is there a software assurance option for obtaining Expression Encoder 4 pro codecs? The version available via ultimate msdn (the Exprssion 4 ultimate sku) excludes these as well as live streaming capability. Any idea of ball park costs? I would hope this would be notional given the pricing of vs2010 ultimate + msdn sku. The ultimate vs2010 msdn sku implied the same functionality as the retail version, it is an odd decision to even include EE4 pro in the msdn ES4 ultimate sku given its neutered state. ThanksAnonymous
June 10, 2010
AJ, I'd like to understand your situation a little better. Can you mail me privately at phuff [at] Microsoft <dot> com? Thanks Polita Paulus MicrosoftAnonymous
June 10, 2010
@Luc. Just to see how limited we are, I tried to activate Expression Studio 4 on work PC, home PC, and laptop. It installed on the work PC and home PC but told me I had activated too many instances when I tried on the laptop. So the limit is two activations. As an MSDN ultimate subscriber, this bites. Please get us back to pre-pidded installs.Anonymous
June 10, 2010
Hi Student, Expression 4 will be available as part of DreamSpark. We expect this to be available in the next 2 weeks. -somasegarAnonymous
June 13, 2010
My not so favorite feature of Expression 4: the removal of Sketchflow from the version that Microsoft Certified Partners get, especially after it was there to learn and use and proseletize in version 3. Not sure of the plan here, except products keep getting downsized or down-versioned for MS Partners. Even worse, I worked extra hard to obtain the ISV competency to get the extra bits. This is simply not acceptable.Anonymous
June 14, 2010
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June 14, 2010
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June 15, 2010
Any chance from someone from the Expression Team confirming if anything is going to change for SketchFlow for MSDN Premium (via Certified Partner Program)? If there isn't going to be any changes even after the feedback, appreciate if someone from the team states so. If the team is still considering, I think we would all appreciate knowing this.Anonymous
June 15, 2010
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June 16, 2010
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June 18, 2010
Where is upgrade pricing available to MSDN Premium subscribers? Please provide a URL as the only upgrades discussed online have been for Certified Partner subscribers and those who purchased Expression/VS.NET at retail. I've yet to see an upgrade available for those who purchased MSDN Premium at retail. Frankly, it may not matter for our shop. This is a bait-and-switch and it's distasteful to expect us to spend several hundred more per-seat when we've already spent thousands per-seat on MSDN Premium (skipping Ultimate because we don't use Team System). Our most likely path is to skip the tools altogether - and to be a lot more weary down the road when a new feature is added to a product from the Developer Division. Re: listening to feedback? From the feedback online, it seems the only people who think this was a good idea are the marketing folks behind the decision.Anonymous
June 19, 2010
Student, Expression 4 is now available on DreamSpark. Polita Paulus MicrosoftAnonymous
June 20, 2010
Hi Jon, If it isn't possible for you to pre-pid a product that requires activation, then how about giving those of us with MSDN Subs more keys?Anonymous
June 21, 2010
It isn't a contradiction that all these programs that are used to develop Rich Internet Applications have a flat, dark, 2D and boring graphical user interface? Why not add the possibility to change the theme of the IDE or make it appear less flat and more 3D?Anonymous
June 22, 2010
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June 23, 2010
Andreas, thanks for your feedback- we're listening. On your question about where to find out more about the different SKUs, there's a Silverlight widget on www.microsoft.com/.../whichproductpopup.aspx that will help you find the right product. Polita Paulus MicrosoftAnonymous
June 23, 2010
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July 06, 2010
Just have to add to the fray my disappointment with the SketchFlow from Expression Blend 4 (premium). I have been the Silverlight evangelist in my company for a year now and, after finally getting some traction, I find that fully 1/3 of my value proposition has been nixed from the subscription version of Studio. Sad day.Anonymous
July 06, 2010
I've already touched base with some folks who commented on Tim Heuers' blog, and I'd like to get some more detailed feedback from some of the commenters here as well. Kiran, HS, Henning Kilset, Culme, James F, Sam, Andreas, & Daniel Carey: if you're still checking this post, could you shoot me a note at moneill < at > microsoft {dot} com? Thanks, Mike O'Neill Expression Business ManagerAnonymous
July 26, 2010
Folks, I am looking for a Web UI simulation tool that will support drag and drop .Net UI widgets. The group supported has a large amount of UI Web applications under .NET, so this MS tool might make sense. Not looking to simulate unchanged UI widgets in production, only sections/parts of the Web-UI changing. At this point looking for alternatives to iRise that can port prototypes/artwork over to .NET if needed. Is this the right product, does it support UI simulation/modeling? Thanks in advanced, apologies if I offended the tool's purist.Anonymous
November 28, 2010
As an independent developer, the MSDN premium is a big slice of my budget, and the reason to remove Sketchflow is unfathomable. Why do DreamSpark users get it and I don't? Anyway, although I loved using Sketchflow, I have no alternative but to abandon it, and have found a decent and affordable alternative in Balsamiq. Microsoft was always developer-friendly under Bill Gates. What has happened, guys?Anonymous
November 29, 2010
@batpox- i would like to better understand your situation. would you mind contacting me at robinco@microsoft.com so we can discuss further? many thanks.Anonymous
January 17, 2011
Hi, OK, you want us MSDN users to promote Balsamiq instead of Sketchflow, well then - OK, no problem, we can and will do so. (Thank's batpox for the hint) - wow that's good viral marketing, i always thought this was the domain of MS, but ... obviously also companies like MS grow older <g> mfg Klaus