Microsoft Expression Blend 2 review

The process of creating Silverlight applications is remarkably simple as the control-based design process is identical. Moreover, when producing a RIA you can edit your code-behind JS file directly within the Blend environment - a particularly important capability for web application development where the designer often doubles up as the programmer - and Expression Blend 2 generates all the XAML, JS and HTML files necessary for deployment.

The problem is that it's not just the process that is simple; the power on offer is too. While for WPF work you have 87 controls at your disposal, just eight of these have been converted to work under Silverlight 1.0. And while Blend 2's internal programming support includes colour-coding, there's no IntelliSense, debugging or even word wrap.

The biggest limitation is even more fundamental: Silverlight 1.0 only supports JavaScript-based programming which, while relatively user-friendly, is hardly industrial-strength. The bottom line is that Expression Blend 2 can be used to create simple lightweight media controls for embedding on a web page, but advanced RIAs are out of the question.

Naturally, Microsoft plans to tackle both presentational and programming weaknesses and has already released a beta of the Silverlight 2 player, which supports many more controls and a subset of .NET functionality, enabling C# programming in the browser, among others. This is a more interesting development and, should ensure that Blend does become a force beyond the desktop.

For the moment though, Expression Blend 2's strengths remain firmly with full-blown WPF-based EXE development as a presentational partner to Visual Studio.

If it's the promise of standalone cross-platform browser-based RIA development that appeals, you'd be better saving your money and taking a look at the free Expression Blend 2.5 preview which supports Silverlight 2.

Author: Tom Arah