Can I develop on EPiServer with Visual Web Developer Express?

I was asked today whether it is possible for EPiServer developer's to develop on EPiServer using the free Visual Web Developer Express Edition. The answer is yes - you can use the free developer tools from Microsoft to develop templates and plugins for EPiServer without paying a cent.

Visual Studio 2010 is expensive to buy at around USD1000, so this is good news, especially to the freelance developer.
The catch is that you will not have access to the EPiServer plugin that you would have in Visual Studio since Visual Web Developer Express does not have support for Visual Studio plugins/extensions. Thats going to make development a little tricky until you get more familiar with the EPiServer SDK, because you won't have the ability to simply create a new blank EPiServer Page Template. You're going to have to create an EPiServer Page Template from scratch.

Fortunately there's an easier way to get started. Just open an existing EPiServer project from Visual Studio - the Public Templates from the EPiServer SDK are ideal. If you don't have access to an existing project, contact me and I'll help you out.
Basic instructions: Download the Microsoft Web Platform Installer. Run the 'WebPI' and install Visual Web Developer Express 2010. You will need to install SQL Server Express if you to not have it, or you do not have access to a SQL Server instance. Then install the EPiServer CMS 6 SDK.
Grab your existing VS2008 or VS2010 EPiServer project, the EPiServer Public Template, and open it in Visual Web Developer. Use that as your basis for creating your own EPiServer development project.
Happy developing!