Well... this thread will take quite some time to build. I am JUST BEGINNING to comment on it.
The program is interesting. Very different than CSB or other HTML generators.
And seems more intuitive than HTML editors that I have used.The program is impressive. Could never say that about Front Page!
And it loads in CSB built pages (without frames) quite nicely. They are fun to play with in this program.
Loads of built-in features.
Many of the advanced features are designed to work only on a Windows server.
But definitely had problems with the Publishing issues. And these were equally unimpressive. Microsoft did not make setting up publishing easy!!!
- FTP userid/password is not remembered (discussion groups are trying to get this added, but I can not understand why MS would release a program that does not offer this option via a check box in the publishing options!!!)
- MODE. You will not believe this! Again, it is not available in the publishing options!!! Get this: You must go into your INTERNET EXPLORER, Tools, Internet Options, Advanced Tab and check/uncheck USE PASSIVE FTP! And if you have several sites, how would you remember the setting that is best for each host/site?
- _vti folders folders are still used for some things. These are FRONT PAGE EXTENSIONS folders
Publishing/FTP features in Expression Web seem to be an afterthought. Very poor interface for this compared to our old standby CSB. Don't know why they could not have a simple host setup screen like ours...fill in the blank and done.
So... right now, I have no good or bad rating for this program. Let me work through some tutorials and compare some features to CSB and see how it comes out.