Silverlight is essentially nothing more than Microsoft's vision of a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in designed to be the source of rich online user experiences and to dislodge Flash from its current dominant position on the market. And when the Redmond company said cross-platform they indeed meant it.
Here are some key features of "Microsoft Silverlight":
· Compelling cross-platform user experiences
· Flexible programming model with collaborative tools
· Efficient, lower cost of delivery, and more capable media solution
· Connected to Web, servers, and services
Compelling cross-platform user experiences
· Deliver media experiences and rich interactive applications (RIAs) for the Web that incorporate video, animation, interactivity, and stunning user interfaces.
· Seamless, fast installation for users, thanks to a small, on-demand, easy-to-install plug-in that is under 2 megabyte (MB) in size and works with all leading browsers.
· Consistent experiences between Windows-based and Macintosh computers without any additional installation requirements.
· Create richer, more compelling Web experiences that take greater advantage of the client for increased performance.
· Stunning vector-based graphics, media, text, animation, and overlays that enable seamless integration of graphics and effects into any existing Web application.
· Enhance existing standards/AJAX based applications with richer graphics and media, and improve their performance and capabilities by using Silverlight.
What's New in This Release: [ read full changelog ]
Controls:
ItemsControl Search:
· A user can now search a list of items in an ItemsControl using keyboard input. You can specify the property that identifies an item for search purposes by setting the TextPath attached property.
DrawingSurface:
· DrawingSurface is a new control in Silverlight 5 Beta. DrawingSurface defines an area where 3-D content can be composed and rendered. You implement the rendering behavior through the event data of the Draw event.
Out-of-Browser:
· You can display multiple Window instances in trusted, out-of-browser applications. This enables you to create non-modal dialog boxes, tear-off windows, and user-adjustable layouts that can span multiple monitors.
User Interface:
Detecting Double-Clicks:
· Silverlight 5 Beta adds a ClickCount event data property to the MouseButtonEventArgs event data class. You can use this property to detect double-clicks, based on platform settings for the time duration that two clicks should be considered a double-clic...