Expression Web 4 SP1 Adds HTML5 Support

Expression Web 4 SP1 was released in Mar. 2011, adding full IntelliSense support for HTML5 to the Web site design tool that was released in June 2010. SP1 also lets designers preview how Web pages are rendered by Internet Explorer (IE) 9 and Google’s Chrome browser using the SuperPreview tool, and provides (Cascading Style Sheets) CSS 3 and updated PHP support. The addition of HTML5 support reflects Microsoft’s commitment to the emerging standard, which the company has claimed is the best technology to facilitate the development of applications that run on multiple devices and platforms.

Support Added for New Standards, Browsers

Expression Web 4 is a product in the Expression line of design tools, which also includes Blend (a tool for building user interfaces), Encoder (a tool that converts video files for Web distribution), and Design (a tool for drawing vector and bitmap images and converting image formats).

Expression Web lets designers build and maintain Web sites based on technologies such as Silverlight, ASP.NET, and PHP, and Web standards such as HTML and CSS. Expression Web provides a tool called SuperPreview, which uses an Internet-based service to let Web developers preview a site in multiple browsers simultaneously to observe rendering differences and problems. For example, a Web site can be previewed in Firefox and IE side by side in the same window as changes are made, and page images can even be overlaid to view pixel differences.