What’s new in Blend 4 Behaviors on Silverlight TV

Right after landing in Seattle after the latest .toolbox events tour, I ran to the studio and filmed this episode on Behaviors of SilverlightTV. Not only are there 10 new Behaviors added in version 4 of the Expression Blend SDK, there is new functionality available in the Behaviors API. In this video, we use a few of the new Behaviors and demonstrate that their properties are now bindable and that once triggered an action can check against a specified condition to ensure that it should fire.

These new features result in more “simple drag and drop/property setting” power for the UI designer and developer.

Watch "Using Behaviors in Blend 4"

Arturo takes you on a .toolbox site tour on Silverlight TV

 

On the latest Arturo Toledo episode of SilverlightTV, Arturo Toledo takes you through a tour of the .toolbox site a new site (went public during MIX10) to help designers and developers learn Silverlight and Blend from a UI and design-centric point of view.

The site currently contains two courses Design Principles and Design Scenarios. In the Principles track fundamental principles of design are reviewed and applied to application interfaces.  A great resource for developers who find themselves doing more and more design work and would like to improve their skills.

The Design Scenarios track is where you apply those principles by building Silverlight-based applications in Blend. Great material for those new to Silverlight and experienced Silverlight developers who looking to improve their interface implementation skills.

In the video, Arturo demonstrates how each module is presented in video and hands-on lab format and he shows just a few of the cool applications you build while rolling through the course.

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• .toolbox web site
• Arturo on Twitter (@arturot)
• .toolbox on Twitter (@designtoolbox)

New SilverlightTV Episode: The Best Blend 3 Video Ever!

Yes its a bold statement. But we can at least claim its the Best Blend 3 Video Ever on SilverlightTV, since this is the first episode where Blend is covered.

I spend 30 minutes explaining to John just how cool Blend is by going from a prototype to a working application and highlighting the top features along the way.

Here are the links discussed in the video:

• http://projectrosetta.com/ – includes tutorials covering a lot of the exact material we went through in the video
• http://expressionblend.codeplex.com/ – the Behaviors sample pack we talked a lot about

John Papa and I discuss the MIX10K winners on SilverlightTV

If you haven’t seen the new show SilverlightTV and you want to keep up to date with the latest in the Silverlight world, you are missing out.

Episodes from the past covered:

• 3 Steps to MEF – Export, Import, Compose
• Perspectives on Flash and Silverlight from Mike Downey
• The code behind the Silverlight Client for Facebook

The latest episode includes John and myself discussing the winners of the MIX 10K challenge. This was the second run of the contest and the rules were expanded to allow entries using HTML5, Gestalt-based Silverlight and good ol’ traditional Silverlight apps.

Enjoy the show and I hope to see you at MIX10!

Perspectives on Flash and Silverlight from Mike Downey on SilverlightTV

Congratulations to John Papa for recently launching a new show on Channel 9 called SilverlightTV.

The show covers the Silverlight platform from a variety of angles including architectural issues, real design and development issues problems solved, community members and the latest happenings with Silverlight.

John’s landed a great interview in Episode 2, Perspectives on Flash and Silverlight with Mike Downey.  A former Flash Evangelist for Adobe, provides his perspective on Silverlight and Flash as RIA technologies. Mike draws comparisons between the Flex and framework and the .NET Framework, Adobe AIR and Silverlight out-of-browser features and the different development tools.

For more comparisons between the two technologies, check out the Flash to Silverlight Guide.