This week Microsoft released a newer version of Expression Blend. The Beta 2 version is now available for download here. Some of the changes for this version include:
- You can now instantiate resources from the Resources panel. For example, you can drag and drop a button style onto the artboard and create a button out of it instead of creating a button and applying it as a separate task.
- You can see inner exceptions when an exception happens on the design surface, allowing you to see more details about the cause of an exception.
- You now get font previews in the Text category of the Properties panel which makes it easier to choose your font.
- After adding an event handler, the XAML file is now automatically saved for you.
- Configuring value editors has been improved. For example, you'll find editing BitmapEffects or adding items to an ItemsControl such as ContextMenu are now much easier to do.