I am a bit confused about the difference between Silverlight and Expression Blend. From my understanding, Silverlight is used to create a better interface, and Blend is used to create animations? Meaning you can use Silverlight without having to use Expression Blend (there is much demand for Silverlight developers, but I from what I know, Silverlight is pretty easy to grasp). You can use Silverlight without using Blend, but you cannot use Blend without using Silverlight. Would that be correct?
+7
A:
Silverlight is a technology, and it is used to develop rich internet applications. In visual studio you can do both, develop the whole site, and change the way it looks, but Blend is a design tool that makes it easy to apply design to your site. So u cant create a whole silverlight site just in blend. Consider it as a help tool.
here is a nice blog about silverlight: http://www.windowspresentationfoundation.com/ much of useful info there
Nikola Markezic
2010-08-02 13:55:41
Specifically, Blend is a WYSIWYG XAML authoring tool (that also provides access to the code-behind), just like Dreamweaver is an HTML authoring tool.
Tergiver
2010-08-02 14:44:46
Jeremy Likness
2010-08-02 19:13:27
Blend is absolutely indispensable, even for developers. Especially considering the XAML designer in VS2010 is quite, well, terrible. Learning Blend well makes one a much better Silverlight developer.
Matt Greer
2010-08-03 22:51:33
+1
A:
Blend is just a tool, a Designer's tool at that. But I, as a programmer/developer, use Blend quite often for the reasons mentioned above (ex: create complicated animations, modify templates, styling...etc).
Blend is a tool for Xaml, which is the technology behind Silverlight as well as WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation).
Note: Silverlight is a subset of WPF.
Hope that wraps things up in a nutshell for you.
AlvinfromDiaspar
2010-08-03 08:19:41
+3
A:
Blend is a tool, like VS. It can create Silverlight and WPF apps (just like VS). The user experience is very different - it's meant to focus less on code and more on design. As a result, some VS items don't exist in Blend. Likewise, Blend has some extra controls that simplify animation, shapes, video, etc. that would wouldn't get if you just used VS alone. Somethings are just plain easier in one app versus the other (animations in Blend, coding in VS), but you could very much do most of the same work in either.
You can always use one without the other (VS and Blend), or you could use them together for different parts of your project.
They target different markets as well. Blend is usually included with Expression Studio, a suite of different software packages focus on design (web-design) and multimedia.
WinnerWinnerChickenDinner
2010-08-03 22:24:50