The State of Add-In Development
Expression Web add-ins are in trouble.
Yesterday's Add-In Landscape
FrontPage 2000 was the first version of Microsoft's Web authoring tools to host add-ins. It was a key selling point that Microsoft promoted with a lot of fanfare. In fact, here's a Microsoft press release extolling the virtues of add-ins. This was the Golden Age. There were many add-in developers releasing all manner of product, from simple download-only tools to full-featured CDs. It was a growing and healthy community backed by Microsoft tools, commitment, and promotion.
Today's Add-In Landscape
Today, it's a much different picture. There has been a steady decline in add-in developers since the heady days of FrontPage 2000. Here's why.
Lack of Tools
The tools to build add-ins are way too complex and expensive. You need Visual Studio Professional if you want to be an add-in developer. At least back in the day you had a choice in using Visual Studio or the Microsoft Office Developer (MOD) Tools. With the complexity and expense of today's Visual Studio, it's complete overkill. Add-in developers don't want to build Expression Web. They want to build small, focused, useful programs that provide new or extended functionality to Expression Web. You know, add-ins.
(Note: There is also no VBA-equivalent macro language in Expression Web 3, a result of moving to the Windows Presentation Foundation architecture. Microsoft has stated they are working on an extensibility option for a future version of Expression Web, but it just might be too little too late.)
Lack of Developer Information
There's one article out there describing how to create Expression Web add-ins. And it's not even an official Microsoft article. During the FrontPage era there were several good articles on how to build add-ins in Visual Studio/Visual Basic and even MOD.
(Note: Several Microsoft employees have been wonderful in helping get my software ready for Expression Web 3. And I appreciate all the assistance. But it shouldn't be this time consuming or difficult.)
Lack of Awareness
This was a problem back then, too. Professional applications like Photoshop and Dreamweaver enjoy a customer base that understands and uses add-ins. They might call them plug-ins or extensions, but they all do the same thing. Maybe the market is too small or the user base too broad for add-ins to be a really compelling part of the Expression Web story.
Lack of Promotion
Add-in development is not a full-time gig. It's done at night and on the weekends and in the mornings. The last thing developers want to do is spend money on marketing and promotion (which I've done in the past), especially when awareness is so low. And wasn't a boat load of money just shelled out for Visual Studio Professional?
There also appears to be some hesitance over at Microsoft when it comes to promoting add-ins, perhaps due in large part to the dearth of what's out there. Firefox add-ons get a top-level menu at the Mozilla site. Dreamweaver extensions are easy to find and aplenty. It's decidedly less obvious getting add-ins for Expression Web over at Microsoft.
Lack of Market
A lot has changed since 2000. FrontPage and other similar programs reached out to the hobbyist and small business owner, whereas today those same users turn to other solutions, like free blogging sites. Not to be dismissed, many of today's free blogging sites offer excellent solutions. The price is right, too. No desktop software to purchase and no monthly hosting plan to sign up for.
Large businesses, also once a key FrontPage domain, are increasingly moving to Web-based content management systems like Microsoft SharePoint. There's no need for Expression Web in many of those environments.
According to the press release quoted earlier, there were 2 million FrontPage 2000 licenses sold after only eight months on the market. Excellent numbers, for sure. I wonder how many copies of Expression Web have been sold? I can't find any numbers, but I'm guessing it hasn't sold nearly as well.
Developers are left deciding where to put their limited resources and time. Go after the small, increasingly niche professional Web design market, or put their energies into developing for a much larger one, like Firefox or Apple Apps. (An App is today's add-in; small software programs providing targeted functionality to the host. In this case, the host is not an application but a mobile phone/MP3 platform.)
Conclusion
Most add-in developers don't do it for the money. Or the recognition. They do it because they are passionate about it. Could the add-in market grow if some of the above issues were addressed? Probably. Would it really change the future of add-in development in a world increasingly dominated by Web-based solutions and the App?
Probably not.