I appreciate your judicious if verbose response. Sincerely. However, I just wanted to see what Silverlight can do and whether it's worth working in now. And, I wanted to have it done before lunch today. I might come back to the resources on another Friday when I have time to evaluate new directions.
Thanks. On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 3:12 PM, J. Ambrose Little <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 3:23 PM, Jay Morgan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> re: Public pattern library for Silverlight: >> The problem in short: I want to see Silverlight's portfolio. Building a >> pattern library is a suggested solution for showcasing Silverlight work. The >> specific PL execution means that it's in the parlance of interaction design, >> which is a major portion of the Expression target audience. >> > > I think recent discussions here have shown that there is confusion even > within the IxD community about the term "pattern"; hence the desire for > clarification--safer not to assume we're on the same page there. I still > don't see the value in a Silverlight-specific pattern library--Silverlight > would be just one technology in which UI patterns could/would be > implemented. Unless you mean, e.g., a control library? > > If you're looking for the actual widgets that are implementations, then I > suggest searching on "Silverlight controls." There are a number (~30) > of the most common controls (textbox, itemscontrol, datepicker, grid, etc.) > available in the beta right now. Microsoft has said they plan on ultimately > shipping over 100 controls out of band that folks can use in their apps. > > I can't speak to whether or not MS has targeted IxD's specifically with > Blend. Maybe they meant to, but I tend to agree with Dave Malouf's > assessment on that point. > > Anyhoo, here are some resources for ya: > http://silverlight.net/ - The Official Silverlight Community Site > > http://www.silverlightshow.net/ - Quality Independent Silverlight > Community Site > http://silverlight.net/Showcase/ - Showcasing SL work on the Web > > http://www.wynapse.com/ - Silverlight Articles, Blogs, Examples, and More > > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb188743.aspx - MSDN Library for > Silverlight > > > http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/06/06/silverlight-2-beta2-released.aspx > - > Scott Guthrie is a VP over this stuff, and this is a good (albeit > dev-oriented) intro to SL B2. > > [Plug] I am co-authoring a Silverlight 2 > book<http://www.amazon.com/Silverlight-Programmers-Reference-Ambrose-Little/dp/0470385405/>, > so that's another resource, and we have an early access > wiki<http://silverlight2.wrox.com/wiki>for anyone interested in getting at it > before it is published. Of course, > the target audience for that is definitely devs. > > > >> re: Silverlight plug-in: >> Two parts to this problem: 1) Plug-in issues hide SL work in web. >> > > Eh? Flash? Shockwave? Applets? Needing a plugin to further enrich the Web > experience is not new, nor are issues with plug-ins (like installs and > upgrades) specific to SL. > > >> 2) SL work in desktop apps is invisible b/c i can't install and run those >> apps. >> > > Right now, if I'm understanding your issue correctly, there is no offline > activation story for SL. There is no AIR-like equivalent to let SL run > outside of the browser (or a browser control inside some other app). > > >> >> Part one story: >> Keyword: "should". Yes, SL should just go, but it does not. >> > > It does if you have it installed. Same story for Flash and any other > plug-in based tech. > > >> I can't install v2b2 because i don't have admin rights, so i have to wait >> to get that in order to view most examples. >> > > Last time I checked, you need admin to install Flash and Flex/AIR, too, > no? > > >> This is a typical reinforcer of pain w/ MS products. >> > > Seriously, this is not an MS-only issue. I think there is a > double-standard being applied here. > > >> SL and Expression thus look less attractive. What if I build something in >> v2b2 and then v3 makes it obolete/inaccessible? I wouldn't pass that risk to >> my clients. >> > > Think of it this way: > > Silverlight 1.0 = roughly equivalent to plain Flash in terms of target > functionality > Silverlight 2+ = more like Flex--there's a lot more to it, so it requires a > bigger/different runtime > > In other words, the difference between v2 and v3 will not be equivalent to > that between v1 and v2. What that means in terms of installation & updates, > I can't say for sure, but I do know that some level of updates will be > opt-in automatic for clients once v2 is released. > > >> Part two story: >> More of a marketing problem than technology. If there's really good SL >> work on desktop apps, I'd like to see some of the capabilities. (Of course, >> not asking to see proprietary stuff, just what it can do.) The core stands: >> I want to see SL's portfolio to see if it's worth using (SL/Expression). If >> I can't see it, I can't evaluate that. Or, worse, the evaluation ends with a >> bad score - sort of an "uncontested" match. >> > > I'd check out the resources above. SL 2 is still in Beta, so if your > company has a locked down environment, I wouldn't expect them to let you > install it (or install it for you). That said, if you need to evaluate it, > maybe they should. There are also videos online as well, but it's not the > same as evaluating it directly. Maybe you can spin up a VM where you have > admin rights to play around with this pre-release stuff. > > Hope this helps. > > --Ambrose > -- Jay A. Morgan ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
