Expression Web V2 Add-Ins
After over a year in the marketplace there's a growing number of add-ins
available for Expression Web.
Some replicate or reintroduce features from FrontPage that users
sorely missed. Others bring a new level of usability to what is
already a well featured product. Some are macro based, some are more
deeply integrated.
Here's a few that I use and can recommend:
Expression Web Extras Toolbar
This collection of macros gives some very useful features, all
accessible from a single toolbar:
- Sitemap Builder
- Robots.txt builder
- Property Count buttons (which give details of a pages title,
description and keywords)
- Image Text Window
(manage the properties of all the images on a page from a single
dialog window)
- A 'Close without Saving' button
- A free-form 'Notes' feature
- A Timer, useful for task/job logging
And my favourite,
- A Task Pane Cleaner (or 'Hider') giving the ability to
toggle task panes on and off, freeing up the design area
Cost: $16.95. Full details and a 15 day trial at
Expression Extras
Note: Many users running EW V2 on
Vista have found that attempting to run macros crashes EW. This
update
fixes the problem.
WebAssist CSS Sculptor
The most sophisticated EW add-in currently available, Eric
Meyer's CSS Sculptor from WebAssist gives you a layout wizard that
creates cross-browser CSS page layouts in the easiest way possible.
There are options for every aspect of page layout and also basic
colour schemes that you can adapt and use as basis. A preview of
your selections is shown as you alter them.
Cost: around $100 but is excellent
value for the facilities provided.
CCSS Sculptor
FP Bot Macro
Whilst there are now better ways to achieve the same things, the
FP
Bot Macro puts the Database Results Wizard, Photo
Gallery, Search Bot and Hit Counter from FrontPage back into Expression Web.
It also puts the 'Include Page' feature back into EW V1 (It's back
by default in EW V2).
Given that the FP Photo Gallery isn't cross-browser compatible, my
advice would be to use that particular feature with care.
Cost: Free.
FP Cleaner
Created by MVP Steve Easton for use with FrontPage, Expression Web and Sharepoint Designer.
Not an add-in as such but indispensible nevertheless. Cleans up the
temp files and web cache files that can upset Expression Web
Cost: Free. From
www.95isalive.com
Tina Clark's
AnyExpressions site maintains a comprehensive list of EW add-ins