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Miscellaneous Expression web tips

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I’ve been busy learning how to use Microsoft Expression Web and updating my knowledge of CSS.

Here’s some useful stuff I found “along the way”:

Even more training videos: Other than the videos I mentioned previously, there’s also Expression Web Essential Training by Joe Marini (also viewable through Oreilly’s Safari Books Online).
Additional language files (for spell checking and the UI) and instructions on how to set the spelling language (hat tip to by-expression.com)
CSS – The Missing Manual: Not only is this a funtastic CSS book, it’s tutorials also made me appreciate the CSS support and functions in Expression Web. Just have a look at how nicely the CSS properties task pane shows the rules applied to a <p> tag through inheritance and the cascade and displays overriden properties (crossed out):

(Tutorial 5.4: The Cascade in Action)

Technologietransfer nach China – einfach mal nachgefragt

Als kleiner Beitrag zu der aktuellen Diskussion hier eine Abbildung aus meiner Diplomarbeit aus dem Jahr 2002: Gefragt wurde in einer anonymen schriftlichen Umfrage unter Managern deutsch-chinesischer Joint-Ventures nach den Zielen, welche der chinesische Partner mit dem JV verfolgt. Zu sehen sind die Antworten der Vertreter der chinesischen und deutschen Seite (1):

Ich zitiere mich mal selber: “[…] auf der deutschen Seite [besteht] eine erhebliche Fehleinschätzung der Bedeutung des Know-how-Transfers für die chinesische Seite”.

Ob sich das inzwischen geändert hat?

1) Die Frage nach den Zielen der chinesischen Seite wurde in 98 Fragebögen von 68 Vertretern der deutschen Seite und 30 Vertretern der chinesischen Seite mit 146 einzelnen Aussagen beantwortet. Die Gruppierung führte zu einer Kategorie mit lediglich 3 Aussagen, welche nicht weiter berücksichtigt wurde. Die vier verbleibenden Kategorien erfassen 92,47% der Aussagen.

Luxembourg’s e-volution

When I tried to find online shops in Luxembourg (for a Google Custom Search project) a few months ago, I came across many sites which looked like they had not been updated for years. My overall impression was that e-business in Luxembourg was mostly a matter of taking advantage of the low VAT rate to serve customers in other EU countries while nothing much was happing in Luxembourg itself. Consider the absurd example of Paypal, which now holds a Luxembourgish bank license and still does not allow it’s customers here to withdraw funds to a local bank account.

However, recent developments point in a very different direction. Here’s a list of internet projects which show that the e-conomy (sorry, I’ll stop this now 😉 ) is very much alive in Luxembourg: Continue reading Luxembourg’s e-volution

Expression Web Training Videos

Repeating what someone is doing in a video instead of just sitting there and watching it is a very effective way of learning. When I’m in the office, I like to use my laptop to play the video while immediately repeating the actions on my desktop PC. That’s why I was disappointed when I found out that Total Training‘s free videos which came with my copy of Expression Web didn’t include the project files.

Should you find yourself in the same situation, you can download my alternative files for lesson 2 here (published under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License).

More free training videos (by Todd Miranda as well as Total Training) and other learning resources (like a quick start video plus project files) can be found on Microsoft’s Expression site.

Update 2007 07 24: Looking for promotional discount codes (coupon codes) for Total Training’s Expression Web video training? You can find a 50% discount code at by-expression.com (read the comments for the correct code), which is valid only for the first Expression Web course. If you’re about to buy both the Expression Web and Advanced Expression Web course, you can save even more by using the “Get 1 Free Product When You Buy 1”-coupon found at fabuloussavings.com (valid from July 18, 2007 through July 31, 2007).

Search Bar with your Amazon.com Associates ID

The problem: You (or your organization) has joined Amazon’s associate program. You’ve put a link on your website. You’ve kindly asked everyone you know to click on it so that you can receive a commission. Yet, many people don’t use your link, not because they don’t like you, but because they forget to visit your web site first or just think that’s too complicated.

The solution: Expand the search bar (already available on all modern browsers) to include an Amazon.com search which automatically transmits your associate tag (also called Associates ID).

Too complicated, you say? Not at all. You can easily set up your customized search add-on in a few minutes. Continue reading Search Bar with your Amazon.com Associates ID