This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Conclusion
As time passes, more software is targeted for the Web, and more software is expected to deliver high-quality—sometimes cinematic—experiences. However, the effort involved in creating such user interfaces has been far too difficult in the past.
If you're a software developer, you might be skeptical about the need for "eye candy" beyond what HTML provides. But like it or not, having an engaging user experience matters, whether you are creating a public consumer-facing site, or a simple intranet application for your manager. You can blame the unrealistic software on movies and on TV, or you can blame real-world software that is starting to catch up to Hollywood's standards! Indeed, modern software has more visual polish than it used to. You can see it in traditional operating systems (such as Mac OS X and, more recently, Windows Vista), in software for devices such as TiVo or Xbox, and of course all over the Web thanks to Adobe Flash. Users have increasing expectations for the experience of using software, and companies are spending a great deal of time and money on user interfaces that differentiate themselves from the competition. Microsoft understands this, and it's apparent in its latest technologies—first on the desktop with WPF, and now on the Web with Silverlight.
Silverlight makes it easier than ever before to create engaging web-based user interfaces, whether you want to create a simple piece of content or an immersive interactive experience worthy of a role in a summer blockbuster! This chapter focused on the HTML and/or JavaScript required for getting any Silverlight content inside a web page, as well as the ways in which the embedding can be customized. The next chapter explores the XAML side of the story in depth, and then the remainder of the book covers all the different types of content and interactivity that can be achieved with Silverlight.