Microsoft has released the first preview version of its much-anticipated Microsoft Expression Web Designer product.
On May 15, Microsoft announced the first CTP (Community Technology Preview) of its Expression Web Designer, formerly known by its code name of Quartz.
Microsoft offered CTP releases of the Expression Web Designer"s companion products in the Expression suite—Expression Graphic Designer, code-named Acrylic, and Expression Interactive Designer, code-named Sparkle—but developers were left waiting for Quartz. The Expression suite is Microsoft"s tool set aimed at designers.
The company had showed the Expression Web Designer technology at various stages of its development at both its Professional Developers Conference in October and at its Mix 06 conference in March.
Wayne Smith, Microsoft"s product manager for Expression Web Designer, said the main focus of this CTP is to demonstrate compliance with popular Web standards such as XHTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and XML, or "all the standards people are using on the Web."