Comments on: Microsoft Expression – First Impressions http://www.conceptfusion.co.nz/2006/12/microsoft-expression-first-impressions/ WordPress, jQuery and Other Stuff Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:24:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4-alpha-19719 By: Simon http://www.conceptfusion.co.nz/2006/12/microsoft-expression-first-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-756 Simon Thu, 21 Dec 2006 01:52:47 +0000 http://www.conceptfusion.co.nz/?p=73#comment-756 There is a setting within Expression Blend and Design's preferences panels to change the theme of the UI although it currently only allows either the standard "Dark" or reversed "Light" themes. In terms of their intention of making the design space the focus, this is certainly the case in Expression Blend where the default background is dark and you can specify custom colours, in Expression Design however, this feature seems to have been over-looked and the page is still somewhat lost in the glaring white of the design space. It will be interesting to see where the UI ends up in the final release of the suite early next year. I notice also that the only application at full release, Expression Web, doesn't share the dark UI theme. It almost feels like Expression Web has been developed separatly from the suite, posssibly even aquired from a third party or was simply further into the development cycle when the decision was made to use the new UI. It looks and feels more like VS2005. There is a setting within Expression Blend and Design’s preferences panels to change the theme of the UI although it currently only allows either the standard “Dark” or reversed “Light” themes.

In terms of their intention of making the design space the focus, this is certainly the case in Expression Blend where the default background is dark and you can specify custom colours, in Expression Design however, this feature seems to have been over-looked and the page is still somewhat lost in the glaring white of the design space. It will be interesting to see where the UI ends up in the final release of the suite early next year.

I notice also that the only application at full release, Expression Web, doesn’t share the dark UI theme. It almost feels like Expression Web has been developed separatly from the suite, posssibly even aquired from a third party or was simply further into the development cycle when the decision was made to use the new UI. It looks and feels more like VS2005.

]]> By: zef http://www.conceptfusion.co.nz/2006/12/microsoft-expression-first-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-754 zef Wed, 20 Dec 2006 23:49:52 +0000 http://www.conceptfusion.co.nz/?p=73#comment-754 According to the Microsofties the reason the UI is dark is so that the toolbars fall into the background and the 'design space' comes to the foreground (which is apparently better for focussing in on the actual design). A fair enough concept, but I'd hope that in future versions the skin can be tweaked to suit the preferences of the operator. According to the Microsofties the reason the UI is dark is so that the toolbars fall into the background and the ‘design space’ comes to the foreground (which is apparently better for focussing in on the actual design). A fair enough concept, but I’d hope that in future versions the skin can be tweaked to suit the preferences of the operator.

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