Finally!  And I say that not meaning that "it is about time", but "how exciting"!  On Thursday of last week, Expression Studio 2, in all its new feature goodness, was released.  There is just no way to list all the cool features that have been added in version 2 of all the products.

For those of you who have been using the preview releases of the Expression suite of products, you know how exciting it is that version 2 has been released.  There are some extraordinary new features in version 2 of all the products (I look forward to recording videos taking advantage of some of the new features).

For those of you who have not used the preview releases, you are in for a big surprise!  There are some absolutely awesome new features to be found in version 2.  Once you use version 2, you will wonder how you could have ever used version 1!

For those of you who have not used any of the Expression products, what in the world are you waiting on?  How could you not use such a great product?  Seriously, there is something here for everyone.  Expression Web is a great tool to help build standards-based web sites.  Expression Design is a great vector graphics tool.  Don't get me wrong...it still has a ways to go and is no Illustrator or Photoshop, but its easy integration with the other Expression products makes it a win win!  Expression Blend is the only way to go when working with XAML.  Whether you are building Silverlight applications or WPF applications, you need Blend!  Expression Media is an asset management tool that makes organizing and working with media assets super easy!  Expression Encoder is the tool for you if you work with encoding video for multiple devices/platforms/scenarios.  You definitely want to give these tools a try!

Take a look at version 2 and fall in love all over again!

The Expression Team have released an updated version of Deep Zoom Composer!  A lot of changes have been made to make things faster and more efficient.  Some of the bigger features according to the Expression Blend and Design Team Blog are:

• Improved Exporting
• Better Design Experience
• Updated Collections Export
• Greater Access to Help

Keep in mind that this is just a stepping stone to the future of Deep Zoom Composer, but it is a travertine tile stepping stone!  It is definitely worth downloading if you have used an earlier version.

Many of you may know that I have been recording "How Do I" videos for Microsoft Expression products for a while.  Recently a new Web site has been created by Microsoft focusing on the Expression Community.

There are sections for blogs, news and events.  There is a section for videos laid out more similarly to WindowsClient.net.  There is a gallery of work that not only demonstrates work done with the Expression suite of products, but also some creative inspiration sites!  And needless to say, there is a forum section for questions and answers.

If you do any work with the Expression products or are interested in getting started, be sure to check it out!  You can find the new site at http://expression.microsoft.com.

Well a few more Expression Web Videos are available on the Expression Knowledge Base page.  The videos that are out there now are:

• Work with Images in Expression Web
• Work With Hyperlinks in Expression Web
• Create a Template-based Web Site Web
• Create a Standard Web Site With Expression Web
• Use CSS Layout in Expression Web
• Using CSS Style Sheets in Expression Web

Go to the Expression Site to view the videos.

Two more of my videos on Expression Web have been posted to the Expression site.

Over the last month or two I have been recording some "How Do I" videos.  The videos I have been working on are about the Expression Suite and WPF.  The first video, Use CSS Layout in Expression Web, has gone live on the Expression Knowledge Center site.  I will post more of the video locations when they go live.

If you have not visited the Knowledge Center for the Expression Suite, it is a great place to get training videos, Webcasts, starter kits, virtual labs and more. 

Also if you have not been to the new Windows Client site and you are interested in WPF information, it is the place to go.  The content that used to be on the wpf.netfx3.com site has been moved to the new Windows Client site.  It is a great resource for getting started with WPF.