Most of the tools you will use in Expression Web 2 are available in task panes, as shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1. Task panes are a flexible and convenient way to access tools in Expression Web 2.

Task panes can be maximized by clicking the Maximize button, as shown in Figure 1.2.

Figure 1.2. A task pane can be maximized to see more of the tools inside it.

You can also drag a task pane to any edge of the Expression Web 2 interface to dock it on that edge or drag it away from an edge to make it a floating task pane that can be positioned anywhere within the user interface.

Task panes can also contain tabs so that multiple task panes can be present within the same window. Figure 1.3 shows the Manage Styles task pane with several tabs inside it for other task panes. To activate one of the other task panes, simply click the tab. Arrow buttons are provided when there isn’t enough room to display all tabs.

Figure 1.3. Task panes are extremely flexible. In this case, there are several task panes combined into one window. Tabs are provided for each task pane.

To add a task pane as a tab within another task pane, simply drag one task pane on top of another.

Expression Web 2 displays all the files and folders in the current Web site inside the Folder List task pane, as shown in Figure 1.4. You can quickly locate any file or double-click on a file to edit it.

Figure 1.4. The Folder List provides a view of all the files and folders in your Web site.

The Folder List has many of the same features you would expect in a file manager, such as creating new folders, adding files, deleting content, and so on. Right-click a file or folder in the Folder List for a menu of options.

The Folder List is similar to the Web Site tab in the main Expression Web 2 window, but the Web Site tab allows for sorting and more customized views than the rudimentary view provided by the Folder List.

The design surface (shown in Figure 1.5) is the area in Expression Web 2 where you create your Web pages. The view of your Web site matches what you will see when you view the Web page in a browser.

Figure 1.5. The design surface in Expression Web 2 provides a complete view of a Web page as it will appear in your browser.

Contrary to what some people believe, the design surface in Expression Web 2 does not use Internet Explorer for rendering. It is a browser-independent rendering of your Web page.

The Status Bar (see Figure 1.6) in Expression Web 2 is extremely informative. It contains tools that warn you when incompatible or invalid code is detected. It also provides information at a glance concerning the schema of the page, and so on.

Figure 1.6. The Status Bar is an important tool. It lets you know whether you have bad code in your page and informs you of many properties of a page.

Expression Web 2 can create Web sites on your local file system or on a remote file system or server. You can use the FrontPage Server Extensions if you wish (although they are not required), and you also can use FTP to create a Web site and open an existing one.

Expression Web 2 has 15 different reports that can be displayed for a Web site. Using these reports, you can easily identify problems such as slow pages, unlinked files, broken hyperlinks, and so on. You also can get a good view of your Web site in its entirety, as shown in Figure 1.7. You can access reports by clicking the Reports tab at the bottom of the main Expression Web 2 window as long as no page is currently open.

Figure 1.7. Expression Web 2 can display many reports on your Web site. The All Files report is shown here.

Expression Web 2 has a robust file publishing system that can use the file system, FTP, or HTTP via the FrontPage Server Extensions. You can choose to publish only those files that have changed since the last time you published, or you can publish all files.

The Remote Web Site view (see Figure 1.8) makes it easy to drag and drop between Web sites and get a good view of what files are out of sync between the remote site and the local site.

Figure 1.8. Expression Web 2’s excellent file publishing features are powerful yet simple to use.

Most Web sites use tables on at least a few pages. Expression Web 2 has many powerful features to aid in creating and formatting tables.

The Layout Tables feature (see Figure 1.9) makes it incredibly easy to create complex layouts with tables. Even after your layout is complete, you can modify it by simply dragging and dropping table cells.

Figure 1.9. Layout tables make creating complex layouts with tables easy.

To help you create a Web site with a consistent look and feel across all pages, Expression Web 2 offers Dynamic Web Templates. You can create any number of Dynamic Web Templates and attach pages of your choice to each.

Dynamic Web Templates also make it easy to make site-wide changes. Simply modify a Dynamic Web Template and save it. When you do, pages attached to that template will be updated automatically.

A robust find and replace tool is a requirement. Expression Web 2 not only includes a flexible and powerful tool for find and replace (see Figure 1.10), but it also incorporates regular expressions so you can create complex queries.

Figure 1.10. The Find and Replace tool will meet simple needs as well as complex ones. Regular expressions allow for complex searches.

It’s never been easier to edit tag properties. The Tag Properties task pane (see Figure 1.11) shows you all the properties of a selected HTML element in one location. By bolding properties that have been set, this tool makes it simple to see how tags have been configured.

Figure 1.11. Tag properties are easy to examine and modify using the Tag Properties task pane.

The Quick Tag Tools (see Figure 1.12) are an easy way to select a specific page element. You also can access properties of the selected element or modify HTML code directly.

Figure 1.12. Quick Tag Tools are the most convenient way to locate specific HTML elements. You can also modify properties of an element.

The Style Builder (see Figure 1.13) is an easy-to-use interface for styling page elements using CSS.

Figure 1.13. Creating and modifying styles is surprisingly easy with the Style Builder.

The Manage Styles task pane (see Figure 1.14) shows CSS styles in one location. You can modify styles, move styles around, and apply styles using this task pane.

Figure 1.14. The Manage Styles task pane shows you all the styles available to you.

The Apply Styles task pane (see Figure 1.15) complements the Manage Styles task pane nicely. One of the greatest features of the Apply Styles task pane is its capability to easily help you determine which CSS styles apply to particular page elements.

Figure 1.15. The Apply Styles task pane is a complementary tool to the Manage Styles task pane.

There are two different standards for Web site compliancy: Section 508 and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, or WCAG. Learning all the ins and outs of each would be a challenging task. Fortunately, Expression Web 2 can run reports that show you how your site fares with both standards.

The Accessibility Reports feature (see Figure 1.16) highlights pages in your site that don’t meet standards and enables you to correct problems before you deploy your Web site.

Figure 1.16. The Accessibility Reports feature ensures that your Web site meets the latest accessibility standards.

Ensuring that your Web site renders properly in all browsers is a difficult task. Expression Web 2 offers the Compatibility Reports feature (see Figure 1.17) so you can identify rendering problems before they affect your site visitors.

Figure 1.17. The Compatibility Reports feature can help you avoid any rendering problems.

The compatibility reports allow you to check against a browser version, document type, and CSS standard.

To aid in cleaning up unused CSS or to simply run a report containing details on CSS usage, Expression Web 2 offers the CSS Reports feature (see Figure 1.18).

Figure 1.18. CSS reports can help you clean up your CSS before it causes a problem.

Interactive Buttons (see Figure 1.19) are buttons that use JavaScript for a rollover effect. Creating Interactive Buttons is easy, and there are numerous predesigned buttons from which to choose.

Figure 1.19. If you need a simple button with rollover animation, an Interactive Button may be the perfect choice.

Behaviors are a collection of easily configurable actions that are implemented with client-side script. Using behaviors, you can easily create dynamic effects that would normally require a considerable amount of code, and you can do it without knowing anything about writing client script.

Behaviors are accessed via the Behaviors task pane, as shown in Figure 1.20.

Figure 1.20. Expression Web 2 provides a large collection of behaviors to automatically add dynamic effects to your Web site.

Layers are commonly used in scripted, dynamic Web pages. Expression Web 2 provides tools that allow you to create layers and manipulate them easily.

Layers are configured using the Layers task pane (see Figure 1.21).

Figure 1.21. Layers are a common design element in Web sites.