Expression Studio: Introduction for Beginners

Course Overview

Organisations need to create web-based user interfaces that are both professional and show a superior quality of design and vision. Microsoft Expression Studio allows for the creation of engaging, web-enabled user experiences while providing for professional graphic design and digital asset management. In this course, you employ Expression Studio to create dynamic, next-generation Web applications.

Audience

Anyone interested in designing, developing or maintaining web-based applications with Expression Studio. Web development experience at the level of Course 470, " Developing a Web Site: A Comprehensive Introduction, " or equivalent knowledge is assumed.

Skills Gained

• Create compelling, media-rich user experiences (UX) with Expression Studio
• Build dynamic, standards-based Web pages using Expression Web
• Produce and transform vector graphics with Expression Design
• Construct engaging next-generation user interface components with Expression Blend
• Manage and publish multimedia resources with Expression Media
• Deliver Expression Studio applications through the Silverlight cross-browser plug-in

Course Outline

Expression Studio Overview

• Expression Web
• Expression Design
• Expression Blend
• Expression Media
• The Silverlight Plug-in

Creating a Site with Expression Web

Introducing Expression Web

• Toolbars and task panes
• Views
• Analysing the site architecture

Building cutting-edge Web pages

• Complying with international standards
• Working with text and images
• Establishing navigation with links and menus
• Designing HTML forms
• Generating e-mails and files from form input

Gaining full creative control with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• Exploiting Expression Web CSS tools
• Modifying existing element properties
• Attaching and editing supplied style templates
• Creating and applying linked, embedded, and inline styles

Constructing Scalable Site Architecture

Ensuring site consistency

• Structuring pages with tables
• Standardising page design with Dynamic Web Templates (DWT) and Master pages

Integrating dynamic data

• Incorporating DataSources
• Sending form data to a database
• Displaying database data

Enhancing Graphics with Expression Design

Navigating Expression Design

• Projects and workspaces
• Exploring the artboard
• Toolbars and task panes

Working with graphics

• Creating and managing documents
• Editing with pen, text and selection tools
• Applying non-destructive effects
• Constructing shapes, paths, fills, colors and layers
• Exporting to Blend through XAML

Engaging Users with Expression Blend

Investigating Expression Blend

• Toolbars, task panes, and editors
• Establishing client requirements
• Blending seamless effects with the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Building user interfaces

• Working with the Canvas
• Controlling layout
• Integrating existing and custom controls
• Responding to events
• Importing objects from Expression Design

Creating high-quality animations

• Animation basics
• Managing timelines
• Building and integrating Keyframes
• Editing path elements

Moving Interfaces to the Next Generation

Authoring interactive user experiences

• Leveraging flow pages for scalable distortionless text
• Animating colors and shapes
• Manipulating 3D graphics and effects
• Connecting to DataSources
• Incorporating audio and video

Maximising browser compatibility with Silverlight

• Installing the Silverlight browser plug-in
• Publishing content for Silverlight
• Augmenting HTML with Silverlight content

Taming Graphic Resources with Expression Media

Organising and locating media

• Importing
• Tagging
• Filtering
• Searching
• Adding custom tag attributes
• Associating multimedia assets through metadata

Exporting digital assets

• Leveraging the PDF Maker
• Building slide shows
• Encoding for Silverlight
• Creating Web galleries

Microsoft Expression Studio is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

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