Introducing Silverlight 1.0 Book is now available...

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My First Silverlight book: Introducing Silverlight 1.0 is now available. I have to say that I am very proud of this book, and I think it is the best book that I have written. It goes through Silverlight from first principles, taking you on a tour of the API, and complements the brilliant work that has been done on the SDK. With this book in hand, and the SDK on-screen, I can honestly say that you can become a Silverlight hero in very little time.

The Table of Contents of the book is:

Chapter 1: Silverlight and the User Experience

In this Chapter I discuss why Silverlight and talk about the strategy that Microsoft have in delivering the technologies and platforms that can meet the UX needs of your users for years to come. Don't get caught by the hype of what can be done with 'RIA' -- understand that the browser, even with AJAX has a ceiling and how you can break through that using standards-oriented technologies such as XML and JavaScript with Silverlight. See how, as UX demands increase, the designer has to be an integral part of the workflow, and how Microsoft empower cost-effective delivery of designer's work into your product life-cycle by allowing designers and developers to work from a common set of artifacts.

Chapter 2: Silverlight and XAML

In this Chapter I discuss XAML and how XAML is used to define a user interface. Each XAML element, it's properties, attributes and methods is introduced. Typically XAML will be implemented using tools such as Expression Blend and Design, but you should really know what they are doing under-the-hood, to enable fine tuning and tweaking of your UX, as well as to become a power XAML user!

Chapter 3: XAML: Transformation and Animation

In this Chapter I continue on what I built in Chapter 2, and show how XAML Transformations and Animations work, allowing you to fine tune these, and to understand how they work to deliver such effects as pseudo 3D.

Chapter 4: Silverlight and Media

Perhaps the single most important aspect of Silverlight 1.0 is its ability to allow you to deliver fully functional media applications with ease. This is powered by the <MEDIAELEMENT> control, which is discussed in depth in this Chapter. You'll see how to deliver and control video, handle markers in video and much more!

Chapter 5: Programming Silverlight with JavaScript

JavaScript has become the standard way of programming Web applications. This Chapter will step you through everything you need to know to take your existing JavaScript skills and use them to build next generation UX experiences with Silverlight. That's part of the magic of Silverlight 1.0 -- that you don't need to learn any proprietary technologies in depth. You can use what you know today and start pushing the browser far beyond what you might expect. Take a look at the showcases on Silverlight.net and you'll see what I mean!

Chapter 6: Using Silverlight with Ink

One uber-cool feature of Silverlight is how it supports inking. This chapter will take you on a tour of the ink API, and show you how you can easily add inking support to your web applications. You'll even learn what my favorite food is.

Chapter 7: Silverlight and Server Programming

The open nature of Silverlight allows you to deliver XML-based XAML that defines your UX. Because it is just plain old XML, it can be generated on a server, which opens up all kinds of interesting possibilities. In this chapter you'll take a look at delivering a Silverlight presentation tier using server applications written in PHP, Java and (of course) ASP.NET.

Chapter 8: Silverlight Futures

You've probably heard of Silverlight 1.1. by now. This forthcoming upgrade adds .NET programming to the mix, giving such great new scenarios such as extensibility and dramatically improved performance. This chapter will introduce you to the tools that you can use to start building .NET applications in Silverlight now, as well as the new ASP.NET controls that automatically deliver Silverlight experiences from your server applications.