Over the last few months people have been talking about what is "missing" when it comes to Expression Web. The item that seems to be highest on the "most wanted" list is a way to automatically generate website navigation. Followed closely by forms processing. Let's hear what you want to see added to Expression web.

I haven't tried forms yet with EWD, so I'm not sure what, if any, forms functions there are. I need forms handlers that will update a database and send data via email. Thank you! Donna

CHERYL  We were discussing the stable table at Microsoft today. That's a topic that could fill a folder with interesting files (if we weren't so half-baked)!

 Murray challenged that there was any need, and he and I got into a tiff about code vs design approach. You popped in like an angel (as usual) and diced some particulars. Into the soup pot went the realativity of keyboard space and spacer.gif (actually, virtual spacer gif). Also, what about those extensive tons of <span> lines in nested tables. How do they effect various browsers and connection speeds? Is there a way to downsize code without destroying the nest? I've tried without success. What are tags that could provide a solution?

 My last post hit the day's end shut down. It was the most important.

 EW's best innovation for developers is really the snippet tool. Microsoft needs to further develope the snippet tool; give it a Vista flare. There's still time. It is the only archive apparatus in the program. It has the potential to be an online exchange system for web developers almost immediately. But with minimal tweak it can be very attractive.

Example 1:-  Some nerd shows up with a copy of a table template for static page layout using nested html tables. He pastes the snippet code into a forum. Forum participants participants post CSS versions. Participants copy snippets it into their snippet collections and test it out, some time in the future implementing their own improvements and inserting their comments. Back to the forum, and paste new alternatives to the original nerd post. And oh, here's some links (if anyone cares). What a frazzel!

Example 2:- Expression Web, EW needs an enhanced snippets tool, ST. ST needs to allow developers to link into an EW SharePoint, EWS for web developers with a link on the Page Editor Options/Code Snippets tab. The site can be opened in the browser or in EW. When opened in EW, ST allows visitors to toggle snippet sharing. Important or conclusive developments can be archived in a library. EWS shows five lists when it is opened from the Code Snippets tab while visiting the EW SharePoint. The lists are:

1. My Snippets - including selection boxes to select what snippets to share (let others see)
2. Other Snippets - including each users name and a selection boxes to select snippets to keep
3. Add-Ins - download information and free snippets from Microsoft
4. Shared Files - the goodies uploaded by users to a shared file library
5. Microsoft Expressions - the site, of course, four major links and some subsite links in a framed tree list

Microsoft Expression Web newsgroups could simply be framed into a transition to the SharePoint. 

Some thoughts are in order.

1. First, the conservative element is going to initially freak and regress into staring at the newsgroup frame.
2. Second, permissions allow access to My Snippets, Other Snippets and Shared Files only to visitors with a registered copy of EW, not FP.
3. Third, the newsgroup frame, Add-Ins and Microsoft Expressions are public turf.
4. Fourth, the continued and historical visitor volume is assured; however, the EWS webmaster may need a TOC tool to manage a list of active topic pools, downsizing visitor congestion if EWS gets more popular.
5. Fifth, topics can only be posted by registered owners of the EW product, not the FrontPage product.

Points 2 and 5 are obviously market assessors: stats can be emailed to sales and wherever.

EWS can be set up by Microsoft in a day.  ST update patch could take a few days. No problemo! What do you think?

((Cheryl, is this 80's style post rhetoric or do you think this goes somewhere?))

If you have the FPSE installed you can continue to use them for email processing but if you do not then you have to use a custom script so I hope that someone will have a good form to email add-in soon.

If you have ASP.NET 2.0 or FPSE installed on your server connecting to a database and managing them are possible without third party add-ins but I haven't had a chance to use them enough to know how easy they are to use.

Mark,

Have you ever used a SharePoint forum? I have though not in the current version (or rather the one being released soon) and they suck. You can't jump to new posts and just new posts, keeping track of what is new and what isn't is a nighrmare, shudder.

Re improved code snippet tools, I'll agree with that one.

As for your post format, that was fine if you post something in a format I find obnoxious I'll let you know so  you can edit it before I zap it into oblivion. ;)

I absolutely positively would like navigation , and I always used the navigation veiw to move pages where I wanted them and to check a variety of things, is that possible to get these at some point?

Hi Dave

 In EW you can use already made items that the web bots produced in fp03 but you can't add new ones, so using the nav bots and shared borders is not an option. Instead think about using Design time includes and or DWTs (dynamic web templates) ... which will make your life a lot easier and you will be a lot more in control.

see the below for further help .. the dwt ebook is completely free

What I miss most are the page load speed gauge, much help for people building low-bandwidth pages, and better tools for dealing with layout tables. When I make a, say, 300px wide and 300px tall layout table and use split cells in rows I end up with 2 cells, each 300 x 300, not the original cell split in half like a well-behaved regular table would. If there's is a way to make this stop happening I haven't found it other than the curse and drag method.

Oh yeah, miss the automatic popup of image toolbar when I click on an image.

-Steve 

While it isn't on the bottom of the pane you can find slow pages using Site | Reports | Problems | Slow Pages which you might find useful.

 Since I haven't used tables for layout since 2002 I can't help wiht the layout tables issue. By the same token I have set a defaault external image editor so double clicking onan image opens it in Fireworks.

Other add-in that would be really helpful: a 'stripper' that couldbe applied to FP created pages, especially those with shared borders, that would extract just the content to make putting that content on a dwt page easier. So far the most efficient method seems to be renaming page 'stuffpage' to'stuffpageold', creating a new 'stuffpage' from the template, then hauling content from the old page to the new one. In a 30+ page site this takes quite a bit of time.

-Steve 

The must effective way to convert a site with shared borders to me is:

1. Make sure show hidden files and folders is checked under site settings.
2. Create a new blank page.
3. Create that page with your site layout, brandling, etc.
4. Create your stylesheet as youlayout your page.
5. Open each of your shared border files and place the contents of each include in the appropriate portion of your new page.
6. Once you are satisfied with the page links and the content to be shared save the page as a DWT.
7. Now in FrontPage remove all the shared boarders (use the same method you used to add them and apply to all pages)
8. As you open each page use select all to select the entire page. Then from the format menu "Remove Formatting". Make any other adobes you want to the page.
9. Apply your DWT and repeat step 8 on to the next page.

I redesigned the branding, etc anyway on the new dwt. Did the thing with shutting off shared borders in fp, but EW still gets grumpy about applying the dynamic template to the page.Shuffling between the two pages is a bit of a pain, but has one aspect I like: the old page remains untouched in case I screw up, and gets deleted only after I am satisfied the replacement page displays properly under IE, Firefox & Opera.
Internal links don't always come across properly, whereas external ones always do. Today's lesson? Had a situation where only a table would serve to give me the layout I wanted. Never drag an image from one cell to another! EW crashed twice!

Steve 

Try running Steve Easton's FP Cleaner http://www.95isalive.com/fixes/fpclean.htm and see if that fixes the crashing. Sounds like you might have some cache corruption.

After you run it use Recalculate Hyperlinks under the Site menu to reindex everything.

Sorry, guys, I know I already said it, but I want PHP. <sniff>

--or kleenex.

-Steve