Need to Know: Microsoft Silverlight 3

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Expression Web now includes Expression Encoder, for creating Silverlight compatible content, and Expression Design, for creating vector based graphics. Both of these are up to version 2.0 and both are included in the box.

Also available in the package is the Deep Zoom Composer, which enables you to efficiently stream high res images as used by the Hard Rock Cafe

One of the features that Microsoft is most proud of its the Super Preview. It enables you to compare how your content will look in multiple browsers – such as Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 – on one machine without having to use a virtual machine, which really reduces the strain on system resources. You can also compare with Firefox and Safari – and all versions can even be overlaid on top of each other to visualise the differences.

The new version of Expression web enhances support for PHP, with improved understanding of PHP syntax and libraries, and again with the preview – dynamic preview of pages means you can see how the content will look without having to load up the PHP on a web server.

Sounds good. So what are the benefits to developing in Silverlight?

Mark Quirk, web product manager for Microsoft, said that the main benefit of working in Silverlight is speed to market, thanks to an easy and efficient workflow. He claimed that the developer working in Visual Studio and the designer working in Expression are using exactly the same file formats, which can really speed development time up.

Also, if your developers are familiar with the .NET Framework, then the same skills can be reused.

Read on to find out if Microsoft can make Silverlight a success.

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