Starting out with Silverlight

Question

Exactly what do I need to get started from scratch in order to develop with Silverlight?

Answer 1

The "Web Platform Installer" includes VS Express (Web), Silverlight Tools, etc. Full Visual Studio is probably preferred, but not essential (as long as you have the Silverlight Tools installed).

Answer 2

I'm going to assume you mean Silverlight 2 here, as Silverlight 1 has essentially been superceded...

Copied directly from the Getting Started page of the official Silverlight website. I should point out that it really is a great guide to starting out )in all aspects) - it has all the links to useful downloads and instructions, plus there's a multitude of tutorials, video tutorials, and sample apps among other things.)

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Get Started Building Silverlight 2 Applications

1. Install Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 - This add-on for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 or Visual Web Developer Express with SP1 will install the necessary Visual Studio updates, Silverlight project templates, developer runtime, and SDK. For additional information read the overview and the Silverlight 2 Readme Notes. Updated developer runtime versions of Silverlight can be found here: Windows and Mac.
2. Install Microsoft Expression Blend 2 and then install Microsoft Expression Blend 2 Service Pack 1 Expression Blend 2 along with Service Pack 1 allows designers to graphically create UI’s for Silverlight 2 applications.
3. Install Deep Zoom Composer - This tool allows you to prepare your images for use with the Deep Zoom feature in Silverlight 2.
4. Download Silverlight Toolkit - This Toolkit is a Microsoft project containing Silverlight controls, components and utilities that can be downloaded and used in your Silverlight applications. It includes full source code, samples and tests.

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Points 2 and 3 are essentially optional, as they are tools created to help designers (i.e. the graphics side of silverlight development rather than programming).

Answer 3

Just go to Silvelright.net and GetStarted, in that official site you will find as well a lot of webcasts for newcomers and advanced users.

HTH Braulio