Why Silverlight?

Dennis Bottjer — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:56:11 GMT

Why Silverlight? What is Silverlight?

Version 3 of Microsoft Silverlight is on the horizon and there are still some misconceptions regarding why Silverlight exists. Before answering the “Why Silverlight” question we need to understand what Silverlight is. Silverlight, is often compared to Flash because of its vector graphics and animation capabilities. However, Silverlight also provides access to a subset of .NET Framework Base Classes. So this means that complete applications can be developed using Silverlight, with various concerns separated into layers.

Silverlight Provides:

Compiled Language Support (VB.NET, C#, etc.)
IDE Debugging
SEO – Deep Link Formatting
Out-of-Browser Support
- Offline API
- Sandbox

Silverlight would be a good fit for teams building rich internet application on ASP.NET Platform with experience using Visual Studio and writing .NET Code.

Summary

Consider Silverlight if your team already leverage ASP.NET and/or Visual Studio

Consider Silverlight for added Search Engine Optimization Value

Consider Silverlight to build a layered rich internet application.

Additional Information:

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Resources:

Silverlight Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft Official Silverlight

Technorati Tags: Silverlight,Rich Internet Application

Rich Internet Applications