Expression 4 is a suite of professional design tools for designing rich user experiences for desktop, mobile and web applications.
Expression 4 has many new enhancements and exciting features, here are some of my favorites.
1. Publish the SketchFlow prototype to SharePoint
Publishing your Silverlight-based SketchFlow project to SharePoint provides you with a convenient way to share prototypes with your team. Best of all, once the prototype is published, reviewers can post their feedback directly back to SharePoint, where it will be visible not only to designers, but also to other reviewers. Designers can also view feedback from multiple reviewers simultaneously. This collaborative review working method makes the interaction design prototype more complete.
2. Blend’s new behavior (Behavior)
Expression Blend 4 includes new behaviors to enhance your application design process. New behaviors provide more functionality while allowing you to stay focused on creating engaging UI art. For example, using these new behaviors, you will be able to take advantage of multi-touch, specify smooth layout switching, define conditional logic, interact with MVVM application modules more easily, and more. There are also new behaviors designed specifically for SketchFlow, including maintaining screen state and more control over Sketchflow animation playback.
3. Design UI without coding
Expression Blend 4 helps you design many complex layouts without writing any code.
Example: Suppose you wish to create a radial-shaped list with its contents arranged in a circle around it like a carousel. With Blend 4, you don't need to write complex layout code. You can simply use paths to draw the "shape" you want, and Blend will automatically place the content appropriately. The best part is that this is not just a design-time feature, it also works with data-driven lists and supports animation. Creating layouts of unimaginable complexity, richness, and creativity is as easy as drawing a path.
4. Write Expression Web plug-in using HTML & JavaScript
As a web-savvy developer, you may be more accustomed to using web languages: JavaScript, HTML and CSS. In Expression Web 4 we provide ways to extend your applications using only the web languages you are already familiar with. You can now add your own menu items, toolbar buttons, control panels and even dialog boxes using only HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a simple XML manifest file. Do you have your own markers that you use to create online maps on your pages? Have a custom Twitter feed? Now you can easily extend Expression Web to add this content to any of your sites.
5. Improve your search rankings with SEO Diagnostics
The new SEO analysis includes not only the usual checks for duplicate or missing titles, tags and headers, but also checks for search-sensitive text content (such as link text and page titles) to ensure they don't contain overly general keywords like "click here" or " "Welcome" text that doesn't add any search value to your page.
We also provide in-depth help documentation to help you understand why these rules are important for achieving good search rankings. These documents make our reports more than just a simple checklist and help you understand and master the art of SEO.
6. Encoding and broadcasting live events
Using Expression Encoder 4 you can broadcast live video in IIS Smooth Streaming format to ensure uninterrupted playback using Silverlight over HTTP. Select H.264 or VC-1 output, configure the number and size of streams, and deploy directly to a server running IIS Media Services. This redesigned user interface makes it easy to select from multiple live sources and file-based content and create high-quality live broadcast output.
We also used this release as an opportunity to simplify the Expression product family and bring it closer to the Visual Studio 2010 product family. New Expression 4 products include:
Current users of Expression Studio 3 or Expression Web 3 products can upgrade to version 4 products for free: Expression Studio 4 Ultimate and Expression Studio 4 Web Professional. Please visit the Expression site for details.