S. Aki said
This book is for Expression Blend 2. Expression Blend 4 has already been released and they differ so far apart that there is really no value anymore. Microsoft is very commited to Expression Studio and as such they're releasing a new version every year at the moment and the versions have so much new functionality and differ so far apart that you can't get any value out of it.
A brief overview book like "Introducing Microsoft Expression Studio" is a much better buy. At least it contains relevant information. Not sure why there is no newer unleashed book for 3.
Contains no information on Sketchflow or 3D (the book only knows about 2D as that's what was available in Blend 2).
Expression Blend 4 Unleashed is available for preorder and if you haven't gotten into Expression Blend 4 yet I would advise getting that book when it's released. It's by the same author and hopefully this time he fixed the font, it's horrendous :)
That said, all in all I like his writing style and he clearly has a good understanding of things. I for one will most likely add Expression Blend 4 to my bookshelf as I'm sure I'll still be able to learn a thing or two by the time it releases. Just wish he'd put a rough cut on Safari so we can get at it already!
Anil Shankar said
The book can be improved quite a bit if the immature, unprofessional writing style is changed for future editions. To be fair, it is the style through out the book rather than concepts that makes this book a poor read.
Most places, while emphasizing concepts, the author gets into an annoying cutesy talk mode. Here's an example: "...It all came together for me a few days later (well at about
three in the morning actually) during one of those rare moments of absolute clarity..."
(page 18, Chapter 1).
As a reader, I am not really interested in unrelated personal anecdotes or wondering why the author was up at 3 A.M. There are more examples such as these that dilute the value of technical content. I hope the proof-reader will expunge such verbiage from future editions so that I don't have a 600-page book with fluff in it.
I'm a bit disappointed with the book due to poor writing more than the lack of technical content.
Chris Russi said
I've tried a few times to read this book, but, the writing style coupled with samples that simply didn't work resulted in me leaving this book on the shelf.
William G. Ryan said
I bought the 'other' expression blend book on the market and while I found it worthwhile, it didn't do what I wanted it to - teach me much about blend.
You won't have that problem with this book.
The book is strong in just about every respect and is reminiscent of Adam Nathan's superb WPF book. There are several examples in it all of which are useful. In fact, the master project so to speak, is very much a 'real world' application that covers topics that are typical of most real-world requirements. YOu can see how they handled it and copy the techniques, or you can use them and just experiment (which is what I did) to fully start to understand how things work.
It's very easy to read and has excellent examples. All in all, it's not just excellent b/c it's the only resource on BLend (although it is), it's excellent b/c the authors covered most useful scenarios and explain themselves very well. They really had the reader in mind in this one and it shows.
Samer A said
If you're new to XAML/WPF and especially if you're new to Expression Blend, I would recommend getting this book to start you off. It is light on code explanations, since there are other books that are specifically designed to teach you XAML and WPF. So if you're looking for something to teach you how to write it yourself, then I'd suggest another book.
I've had Blend on my PC for some time now but always felt like I was only scratching the surface of its capabilities--and I was right. After working with this book, I've discovered just how easy it is to design user controls and entire interfaces using the tools Blend has. Things that confused me in the past are now pretty clear. Blend has so many embedded and somewhat hidden controls that it's easy to pass over things that end up being really useful.
I have one small gripe with this book: I wish it were in color. WPF is all about creating visually stunning UIs and UIEs yet this book only shows everything in gray scale, which can make it hard when you're trying to decide if what you created looks just like what he has in the book. But it's no deal breaker, since he has his exact color codes printed in the book along with each example.
Overall I'd recommend this book as a good starting point for using Blend. It greatly reduces the amount of time you'd spend trying to figure it out yourself, or trying to code XAML from scratch.
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