After reviewing all of the comments, I wanted to provide an update with the direction that I think (no guarantees) I am going to take in regards to incorporating Blend within my "Silverlight 1.1 in Action" book.
Today, I thought of a different approach which I think is a happy medium between the two options mentioned in the last post. I believe I am going to end each chapter in the first part of the book with a section called "Blending It All Together". This section will add value by:
- Giving readers the option of learning Blend as they progress through the book
- Keeping the focus of each chapter squarely on Silverlight
- Reiterating chapter contents in an interactive, optional fashion.
Also, somebody asked, "when will the book be available?" As of right now, I have completed approximately 6 or 7 chapters. Because the book is targeting Silverlight 1.1 the availability of the book will be dependent upon the timeline of the Silverlight 1.1 release. The book is targeting Silverlight 1.1 because, this is the version that provides the powerful .NET Framework. At the moment Silverlight 1.1 is in an Alpha state so it is difficult to squarely answer the "when" question.
I want to make sure I am providing quality content that you can use. I plan on providing Chapter 1, for free, on this blog very shortly. I know this does not squarely answer the "when" question, however, if I were to give an estimate, I would say an electronic version will be available in October with a printed version being available around the February timeframe. Please bear in mind this is only an estimate.
Disclaimer: The items discussed regarding the Silverlight in Action book are merely thoughts and will not necessarily be in the final version of the book.
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4 comments:
Sweet can't wait.
Couple questions: How big will the book be roughly (page count etc)?
Does the book assume the use of any other applicatons other than Blend (Visual Studio 2008 etc.)?
I would estimate that the book will be approximately 400 pages in length.
In order to be consistent with Silverlight, the book will NOT require the use or knowledge of any other applications. Just as Blend is not necessary for Silverlight development, yet provides additional value, that is how it will be presented throughout the book.
The following will likely be in the preface: "This book is intended for developers with a desire to create rich, valuable web-based user experiences with Microsoft Silverlight 1.1. While Silverlight offers some great opportunities for designers, this book is for my friends, colleagues, and mentors who have experience in developing software solutions.
This book assumes that you are familiar with common web standards such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. In addition, it will be very beneficial, but not required, that you have a background using the .NET framework and Microsoft Visual Studio. As explained in the next section, we will be using C# however, we will not be reviewing the C# language or explaining basic programming constructs such as classes, methods, and variables.
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Mr. Campbell,
I'm new to this "Silverlight" technology. Who is your target audience?
First, this is "Mr." free zone. There's no need to be formal.
Though Silverlight provides a great deal of opportunity for both designers and developers, and is fairly easy to learn, this book will target software developers who have been writing software and are looking to learn the Silverlight technology.
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