Microsoft Expression Web is not the best known of Microsoft's substantial range of applications. In part, this may be the novelty of the name - Expression Web has been introduced as the successor to the long-established FrontPage, as the company's new WYSIWYG html editor and web page designer, and rival to Adobe's market leading Dreamweaver.

So what does Expression have to offer, particularly if you've chosen not to go with FrontPage in the past?

FrontPage had often been criticised for focusing too closely on those who not only had no experience of html and web design, but might have been too afraid to try - and for making life too hard for those who wished to get their hands dirty. With a WYSIWYG editor, it is of course important to cater for those who don't have coding expertise, who want to create a web page entirely by dropping what they need wherever in the page they may need it. And there's nothing wrong with this - far from it; software such as FrontPage and Dreamweaver can transform an organisation's online presence without having to contract work out at great expense. With FrontPage, an attractive website could be put together with no use of code whatsoever.

However, there is in this a balance to be found, and it was one in which FrontPage was often found wanting. Dreamweaver made it far easier for the user to be as technical as he or she wanted (or did not want), whilst FrontPage discouraged direct access to the code. Expression Web changes Microsoft's position on this matter completely. The software makes it as easy as can be to directly edit html (or any scripting languages) as much or as little as you'd like.

What's more, Expression Web can help you to make use of the code even if you've very little expertise in that department; colour coding allows you to quickly identify the piece of html or script that you need to work with. You can easily see how the changes you make in the graphical editor affect the code itself, and the software's SuperPreview tool allows you to identify which element of the page corresponds to which element of the code.

Expression Web also makes a number of improvements to ensure that you end up with the page that you envisaged. SuperPreview can show you how your work will appear in multiple browsers, allowing you better to gauge how your audience will experience your site. And to help you realise the ideas you imagined, the Expression suite includes powerful vector drawing and illustration tools, as well as a wide range of ready-to-use multimedia options that can be dropped into your page at will (taking advantage of Microsoft's long-established Media Player technology, as well as the much newer Silverlight tools).

Microsoft Expression Web competes for more directly with Dreamweaver than its predecessor did, and has a great deal more to offer. But it is more than just a rival, offering many unique approaches to web design, and can help transform the way the world sees your organisation. A short training course can help you to get the most out of the software, allowing you to express yourself as never before.