I’ve been working with Microsoft Expression Blend “the professional design tool to create engaging web-connected experiences for Windows” since the beginning of this year. It’s a new program (formerly known as Interactive Designer) from the Windows Presentation Platform (WPF). The software is currently in Beta 2 which can be downloaded for free. The completed product is due to be launched later on this year.
Similar Features to Other Programs
I’m a web designer from a creative background, and I’ve also being using HTML and CSS for front end coding. It’s been very interesting learning Blend. I found many aspects familiar as it has similar elements to other programs I’ve used; Photoshop (similar colour palette), Illustrator (effective vector drawing tools), Flash (animation capabilities) and Dreamweaver (creating layouts, toggling between Design and Code views).
Blend design view:
Blend code view:
Creating Layouts and Assets
There is an Asset Library with plenty of System Controls, such as Button, CheckBox, ComboBox, ListBox, RadioButton, ScrollBar, Slider, TabControl, GridSplitter etc etc. These are prestyled with basic styles, and can be simply drawn onto the canvas – it’s very quick and easy. If there is no budget for any design effort, developers can use the prestyled controls, which don't look too bad. When designers are involved, they are able to change the styling on controls completely. They can change the shapes and colours. Elements can be animated. Buttons can have animated rollover states. The software gives designers endless opportunities to create the exact look and feel they are after.
Asset Library:
Layouts can be controlled from the Layout Panel. Items can be Stacked, Wrapped or Docked, placed in a Grid, or a Listbox. The most freedom is provided by the Canvas, where shapes and pictures can be drawn onto.
Layout Panels:
3D integration
Expression Blend provides great 3D integration capabilities. Complex 3D objects can be created in external applications, and imported into Blend. The sample object below has been created in ZAM 3D - “A New 3D XAML Tool for Microsoft Windows Vista Application Development”. The beta version can be downloaded for free and there are great easy-to-follow video tutorials on the website. I haven’t got much experience working with 3D elements in the past, but this program made it really straightforward.
3D object imported into Blend from ZAM3D:
ZAM3D interface:
Design vs Development – what’s my role
Blend is a very powerful tool for creating applications. The idea is that designers and developers can use the same program, giving designers total control over the design. There is no duplication of effort, as the developers don’t need to replicate any of the design work. When designers create the designs in Blend, it’s already in the correct format for Developers to add their code to.
Currently there are a great number of books aimed at WPF developers teaching XAML coding. There are Blend books for designers in production, but they are yet to be published. They will not be out until the summer. The only way for designers to learn the program is from books aimed at developers and online tutorials and forums. This definitely adds an extra challenge to the mix. Good sites to go onto are www.expressionblend.com, www.contentpresenter.com, http://blogs.msdn.com/expression/ and http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754130.aspx.
One of the biggest challenges there are, is to establish where the designer’s role ends, and the developer’s role begins. There is a large area where these two overlap. The role division greatly depends on the designer’s ability to understand and learn XAML code. The more the designer understands the code, the easier it is for them to use it. Expression Blend has great capabilities, but at the same time it is a pretty complex software to use with a steep learning curve in the beginning. If you’re up for a new challenge, this is a great and rewarding one!