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Expression Blend 5 Preview for HTML Only

Last week Microsoft indicated that it was releasing an Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview as part of the tooling for the Windows Developer Preview of Windows 8.

What Microsoft officials forgot to say, at least during the Day 1 keynote, is that the Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview supports HTML only for Windows 8 Metro style apps. The preview does not support XAML, the XML-based declarative language used extensively in Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight. The four previous versions of Expression Blend focused on UI design and development with XAML and other .NET technologies.

When a reader of Microsoft Developer Division Senior Vice President S. Somasegar's blog--highlighting many of the exciting CSS3 and client-side JavaScript features in Expression Blend for HTML--asked about a preview of Blend for XAML; Christian Schormann, director of product management for Expression Blend, responded in the comments section:

At this point, we unfortunately cannot talk about any releases or features beyond what we have introduced here at build. Stay tuned for future announcements. A good place to look is our new team blog, where the latest news will be posted: http://www.blendinsider.com.

There is a visual XAML designer for Metro-style apps as part of Visual Studio Express in the Windows Developer Preview. As we unified our designer code bases, this visual designer is now based on the same code as Blend.

Schormann also pointed to several sessions at BUILD including a deep dive session on Visual Studio 11 Express for designing Metro style apps using XAML.

Does this mean that Blend for HTML is replacing Expression Blend for XAML going forward?

Schormann gave a session on Expression Blend for designing Metro style apps using HTML at Build and stressed that the preview tooling supported native HTML; it was not a XAML tool that exports to HTML and CSS. He described Blend for HTML as "a new flavor of Blend." (Expression Blend for Windows Phone, part of the free Windows Phone Developer Tools, is another "flavor" of the tool that supports Windows Phone 7 APIs based on Silverlight and XAML.)

He also acknowledged that the Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview was for HTML only. Schormann is the only person at Microsoft who has actually said that publicly as far as I can tell. "We have not released a preview of Blend 5 for XAML yet," he said.

Why not call it Expression Blend for HTML instead of Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview? It may be a matter of semantics but glossing over the absence of XAML and related .NET technologies in the Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview has resulted in many people, including prominent developers and analysts, mistakenly assuming that HTML and XAML are supported in the preview tools. Was this a slight of hand or another communication blunder by Microsoft?

Tell us what you think. Is Expression Blend for XAML likely to get updated or is XAML now relegated to Visual Studio 11 and the updated XAML visual designer? Does it matter? Express your thoughts below or drop me a line.

Posted by Kathleen Richards on 09/22/2011 at 6:00 PM


Reader Comments:

Thu, Sep 29, 2011

A first observation that many in Redmond would confirm - the Expression Suite has been an absolute failure, having made near-zero inroads within the design community for which it was intended. A second observation - when's the last time anyone heard even the slightest mention of Expression Web? For me, I think it was the lackluster demos I saw of it at PDC 2005. And then a question, given Microsoft's inexplicable pushing of HTML5/JavaScript, this despite the developer community's clear lack of interest and seething anger regarding Redmond's handling of Silverlight, why is HTML5 support being forced into a mutated version of Expression Blend rather than where one would expect to see it instead, within Expression Web where it belongs. Had always heard from the inside the the Expression team was lead by clowns, now confirmed. Silverlight may or may not be dead, but given that Blend had thus far shown few signs of life even before this latest fiasco took place, there's very little reason to doubt that, if nothing else, Expression Blend itself is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD...

Thu, Sep 29, 2011

While the clueless in Redmond love such articles and likely encourage this trend, attempts to build grassroots enthusiasm for this fiasco in the making, none of that matters. Whether they choose to listen, it's been made abundantly clear we simply don't care and have no interest in HTML5/JavaScript. Google's declared JavaScript insufficent for building complex web applications and has been working on something akin to a Flash/Silverlight capability. Apple cares not about HTML5/JavaScript; they conquered the consumer space via native applications; only those sidestepping foolish AppStore restrictions are resorting to the HTML5/JavaScript alternative. Despite lip-service paid to "write once, deploy everywhere", the major platform providers have no real interest and nothing to gain from such an approach - all make clear that capabilities specific to their platforms/browsers are 'the only way to go'. MIX11,Microsoft made clear they intend encouragng web apps that work best on IE alone (memories, IE6), while we see nonstop commericals reinforcing that Chrome's got unique magic inside; targetting it as sole supported browser apparently a no-brainer. We've made abundantly clear to MS that only a slight minority are interested in ASP.NET MVC, Razor, Web Matrix and lowest of the low, HTML5/JavaScript. While they continue treating our obvious passion for it with disdain, Silverlight is all that really matters in a world in which those thriving are doing so creating one intensively immersive user experience after another. Gonna set the world on fire via HTML 5 and JavaScript? No way in hell. So, drop cross-platform capabilities of Silverlight that make it a lightning rod in Redmond, but wake up and nurture the passion for Silverlight so many worked to create. Kill it, even if simply doing so via a continued silence that's nothing short of obscene, and what choice remains? Flash is still ubiquitous and given the increasing ascendance of Android, isn't going anywhere. And if I need embrace Objective-C as well, will do so. Ask this question in Redmond - given an already incalculable amount of Flash content on the web, that it's welcome on Android and Android phones grabbing immense marketshare, what are the ramifications of driving developers away from your platform because 1)following Apple's lead, you tossed Flash aside as irrelevant and 2) you betrayed hordes of developers far more passionate about Silverlight than anything else you've ever done? If you foolishly drive us away, and what if Apple changes the entire game with a single statement: having evolved, Flash is now entirely welcome on both the iPhone and iPad? Silverlight dead or left behind to wither, developers lost to competing platforms and competing technologies, the HTML5 hype cycle beginning to inevitably fade, Gartner's prediction of Windows 8's irrelevance proves correct, Redmond's left with what? Far more limited prospects than Redmond appears willing to consider...

Tue, Sep 27, 2011 Marc

You guys are incredible. Whenever Microsoft says something or does not say something, you call FIRE! Of course there will be a Blend for XAML. Take a deep breath and go back to work.

Fri, Sep 23, 2011 Jordan Hughes

Kathleen, your questions are right on the mark. Microsoft has created more questions than answers regarding how to plan development strategies for Windows 8. It's great that XAML will be given a first-class language, but the company's deafening silence regarding its intentions for Silverlight and WPF (whether in Blend or Visual Studio) is going to make it really hard to justify initiating any new projects with either of those technologies. Regardless of any technical factors, it is obviously much safer for a product manager to opt for a web/html 5/javascript solution. That seems very promising for software companies whose bottom line is closely tied to the web ... such as Adobe, Google, and Apple. As a committed Microsoft developer, I sadly suspect that Microsoft's major competitors are delighted with the news from Build.

Fri, Sep 23, 2011 Bryan Morris

Well, I was looking at finally buying a few copies of Expression Blend for my company. But until MS clarifies that there will definitely be an Expression Blend 5 with full support for XAML - for Silverlight, Windows Phone, and Metro - that purchase is on hold. When is MS going to get the memo that their platform developers don't care about building Windows apps with HTML/JS and HTML/JS developers don't care about building Windows apps, period?

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