Welcome to the Expression newsletter!
The holiday season is a busy one, and so are the halls at Microsoft. Since our last issue, we opened the registration for MIX 08, pitted top design firms against one another at the PhizzPop Design Challenge, and released new Expression updates.
Visit MIX'08
Now in its third year, MIX is an intimate opportunity for cutting-edge technical, creative and business strategists to engage Microsoft in a conversation about the future of the web. Come explore the latest wave of opportunities and help redefine the boundaries between: content and commerce, PC and TV, Windows and the Web. Register now.
PhizzPop Design Challenge
36 teams enter. 1 team leaves. Throughout the month of December, regional teams have been fighting it out in New York, Boston, Chicago, Austin, and Los Angeles, for the chance to compete in the final Mad Max-style design battle at SXSW Interactive in Austin, TX. Want to see the teams’ work? Visit PhizzPop now.
Expression Product Updates
If you haven’t visited the Expression site lately, we have recently posted the December preview of Expression Blend 2 as well as Service Pack 1 for Expression Blend, Web, Media and Design. Visit the Expression site to download them now.
Learn Silverlight online
Pining to learn RIA design and development with Silverlight? Visit Microsoft webcasts for free online training.
It’s our gift to you.
Happy Holidays!
The Expression Team
As desktop software and web applications become more and more powerful, the importance of design as a means of keeping new features and functionalities accessible is increasing exponentially. The Microsoft XDR team lead by Manuel Clement is dedicated to researching new possibilities in this field. Find out about Manuel’s vision of the future of user experience and interface design in this interview. Read more
The INTOI is a novel user interface designed by the winners of the user interface design competition at the Microsoft Imagine Cup. This article describes how the five students from University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg (Austria) improved the collaboration of UI designers and developers during the creation of this revolutionary digital whiteboard solution. Read more
With the adoption of Windows Presentation Foundation, the possibilities to create sophisticated user experiences have increased exponentially. Dax Pandhi illustrates in his article how this increases the importance of interface design in general, and affects the role of the designer in the development process. Read more
Expression Web uses CSS to apply changes to your web pages. Depending upon what you are editing, Expression Web will use a combination of inline styles, embedded styles, and external styles. Take control of how Expression Web generates CSS code by learning how to use the Style Application toolbar. Includes a free chapter of
"The Microsoft Expression Web Developer's Guide to ASP.NET 3.5"
Read more
In spite of the increasing popularity of streaming video on the web, creating content – and finding the right host – can prove to be a challenging task even today. Jim Thill provides a step-by-step tutorial for adding a rich media experience to your blog or website by encoding and publishing video to the Silverlight Streaming Service on Windows Live. Read more
 Believe in your talent and join the "European Silverlight Challenge". Running until the end of January, this competition allows you to show off your Silverlight skills and win fabulous prizes. Read more |
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 An intimate opportunity for cutting-edge technical, creative and business strategists to engage Microsoft in a conversation about the future of the Web, March 5-7, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.
Register at visitmix.com by January 15, 2008 and save $200.00. |
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 The PhizzPop Design Challenge pits top interactive, Web, and design agencies against one another in a battle of development, design, and creativity.
Visit designchallenge.phizzpop.com to reserve your spot. Space is limited, so register today. |
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 The Designer Academic Alliance is the recent addition to the MSDN Academic Alliance program which is the easiest and most inexpensive way for students and faculty to get the latest Microsoft software they need for teaching and research purposes. Read more |
