XHTML Syntax Support and Code Coloring
Occasional web developers and anyone who has not yet memorized every detail of the latest XHTML standard (currently 4.01 Transitional) are certain to appreciate that whenever you enter a construct which does not comply with the selected standard, an error message is displayed warning of the standards violation.

These messages also include an alert if a required setting is missing.

Colored code has long been recognized as a great aide to reading, understanding and debugging code. EW2 now extends the color coding previously available in EW1 to PHP code as well. The following screenshots illustrate how much more difficult it is to interpret non-color coded content (Figure 7).

Figure 7. Color coded vs. monochromatic PHP code in Expression Web 2.

Conclusion
I recall attending the launch for EW1 in San Francisco where one of the attendees was inquiring as to why a particular treasured feature which had been present in FrontPage seemed to be missing from Expression Web. The presenter responded with bad news for the questioner. That particular feature had been intentionally removed because it was not standards compliant and one of the overriding design goals for EW was to maximize standards compliance. Do not expect that feature to return, the questioner was told.

This principle has also been a guiding light for EW2 and, quite significantly, its scope has now been broadened to bring this standards compliant approach to PHP as well as to Microsoft's own ASP.NET technology. As should now be clear, most PHP developers who try it out are highly likely to be very impressed with Expression Web 2. I know that I am.

Related Resources

• Introducing PHP Support in Expression Web 2 (appearing in the Microsoft Expression newsletter)


• List of New Features in Expression Web 2 (from the Expression Web blog)

* This article was commissioned by and prepared for Microsoft Corporation. This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.