In the past I used and owned Frontpage. Now I've tested Expressions Web with SuperPreview...

Question

and now my test drive of web expressions has run out and I would like to buy it. I'm doing volunteer work for a not-for-profit and have to try to keep this as inexpensive and yet as functional as possible. Since I was a Frontpage user in the past can I upgrade to Web Expressions 3 at the 'upgrade' price? As far as I can tell it does everything Frontpage did but it does it better, faster, neater, etc. etc. under the sheets. All I want is something that I can use to put up and maintain a small web presenece that helps people deal with issues that arrise from having to live with a life draining hereditary lung condition... Bottom line... I like WE3w/SP and want to buy it for as little as possible etc.

So the question is... Microsoft... can you help me?

Kindest Regards,
John Morton

November is COPD awareness month.

Answer 1

Please note, we're not Microsoft, this is a community forum - users assisting users in using EW software.  

Yes you can buy EW at the upgrade price. The upgrade pricing is really a marketing ploy to compete with the only other mainstream tool on the market, Dreamweaver.  If you own Frontpage or other selected MS software or even some Adobe products you can qualify for the EW upgrade price.

I forget if it checks for the upgrade qualifying product on your system (it may ask for the CD/DVD), but otherwise, you can use FP and EW in parallel, since EW is not a new version of FP, but a separate product.

You may also be able to get a free upgrade to EW4 once you have purchased EW3.  This thread has more information about that.

Andrew M


"Nothing spoils numbers faster than arithmetic!"
-- Peppermint Patty (Peanuts, Charles M. Schulz)

Answer 2

Expression Studio 4 Web Professional can be obtained at upgrade price.

 Shop around since the pice varies from place to place - "official" price is US$79, Amazon.com  $67.65

 

Qualifying programs for upgrade pricing are:

 

•Any Microsoft Expression product

•Any Adobe Creative Suite product

•Any Microsoft Office product (this includes FrontPAge 2000 and later)

 

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Ron Symonds
Microsoft MVP (Expression Web)

www.rxs-enterprises.org/fp

Answer 3

Or, if you arent put off by added database capabilites it has, Visual Web Developer Express is FREE.

It has most of the design tools that Expression Web has. The user interface is very similar to Expression. Just ignore the database Views / Panels if you dont need them.

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ClarkNK, A.K.A. HomePage Doctor
HomePageDoctor.com -- Expression Web database tutorials
Ownertrades.com -- Created with Expression, VWDExress, SQL Express, and ASP.NET
Arvixe -- My favored web host

Answer 4

Umm... no offense, Clark, but he's coming from FrontPage. While VWD is a fine environment, it's not going to be nearly as friendly to an FP refugee as EW is. And, while VWD offers a design surface roughly equivalent to the early versions of EW, with a good deal more complexity in the UI, it's nowhere near the feature set and ease of use now available in EW4 SP2. Frankly, unless I'm doing database development work, I don't use VWD myself for Web development, and would not recommend it to a new user coming from FP. Just sayin'...

cheers,
scott

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