Microsoft Silver Light Technical Details

Since Silverlight functions with a subset of XAML, or the eXtensible Application Markup Language, many have said that this is the epicenter of the Windows Presentation. Developers have the option of utilizing Visual Studio to construct the Silverlight content.

In addition to this, there is a fresh VC-1 encoder program kit which can be used for development. Microsoft has stated that it is willing to port Silverlight to Adobe Flash, despite the fact that these two tools are direct competitors. In addition to this, it is working with Nokia to port Silverlight to their line of cell phones.

One good example of this is the S60, which uses the Symbian OS. Because Nokia has a huge market share over the cell phone market, Microsoft has decided to port Silverlight to the Nokia 40 Series, as well as Internet tablet tools.

While Microsoft also stated that it would make Silverlight available for a wide variety of browsers, it does not seem that the Nokia S60 browser is included. However, there is no doubt that this browser will soon be added to the Silverlight list of platforms.

One interesting feature is that the Silverlight browser plug-in is available for free, much like the Flash plug-in that is offered by Adobe. Because it makes use of a highly flexible programming model, Silverlight offers support for VB, C#, IronRuby, and AJAX.

This interactive media tool can easily be integrated with web applications which already exist, and through the use of Visual or Expression Studio, both developers as well as designers can work together in a much more effective manner. By using the skills which they have developed today, both developers and designers can use Silverlight to enhance the web, making it more interactive for users.

For companies and entrepreneurs, Microsoft Silverlight can be combined with high definition video, Deep Zoom technology, and .NET in order to provide an experience which is truly spellbinding. With the release of Silverlight 2, Microsoft offers a new framework which makes it easier to produce web applications which are rich.

The UI framework offers developers and designers high end graphics along with an animation engine, and it also provides support for layout management, data-binding, and the skinning of templates.

Like the original Silverlight release, Silverlight 2 is also compatible with the complete spectrum of the .NET framework, and gives developers the ability to re-use their code and content to create web applications which can be used on numerous browser platforms, along with Windows applications. The release of Beta 2 also showcases improvements for reporting and error handling, along with accessibility support and standard performance. More compatibility is also offered with WPF.

Next Page: Silverlight Rich Controls