Sanjoy Sarkar's Blog

With a compelling list of features and a full breadth of tools, Silverlight offers numerous possibilities that enable truly immersive experiences on the Web.  Distinctive features that empower designers and developers include:

1. Compelling Cross-Platform User Experiences

Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for delivering the next generation of .NET based media experiences and rich interactive applications for the Web.  The Silverlight runtime is a quick, easy download for both Windows and Macintosh OS.  It currently includes support for all modern browsers, including IE, Firefox, and Safari.

2. Flexible Programming Model

Silverlight offers a flexible programming model that supports AJAX, VB, C#, Python, and Ruby, and integrates with existing Web applications.

3. Role-Specific Collaboration Tools

A broad range of tools include Silverlight design and development capabilities. Developers can take advantage of a full-powered integrated development environment, such as the next version of Visual Studio codename “Orcas”. 
Expression Studio is a suite of professional design tools that unleashes creative ideas and helps deliver superior quality on the Web. 
Combined with Visual Studio’s superior support for XML, ASP.NET and XHTML, Designers and developers can collaborate more effectively to deliver solutions on the Web.

4. High Quality Media, Low Cost Delivery

Silverlight supports full-screen 720p video and offers seamless transitions between full-screen and windowed mode without losing your position in the video.  Furthermore, the new IIS7 Media Pack can be leveraged to enable bit-rate throttling to lower cost for downloaded media.

5. Connected to Data, Servers, and Services

Silverlight blends together Web and video standards and unified media formats for simple integration with existing Web technologies and assets.  It’s capable of working with any back-end Web platform technology and integrates with your existing infrastructure and applications, including Apache, PHP, and more on the server, as well as JavaScript, XHTML and others on the client.

6. Integration with HTML

Every XAML element can be accessed or manipulated from the same client-side JavaScript that would be used to interact with any DHTML element. Even overlaying HTML elements on top of Silverlight content is possible.

7. Client and Server Agnostic

There's no difference between the Macintosh and PC runtimes and you do not require Microsoft software on the server.  Delivering a great Silverlight experience is possible from Apache / Linux servers to a Mac OS 10.4 client.

8. Full Runtime Interactivity

The contents of the XAML file can be server-generated to contain information populated from a database. From JavaScript, a method can be called to add or remove elements dynamically at runtime.

9. Option to Embed or Separate Markup (XAML)

XAML can be embedded directly within an HTML file or can be kept separately to enforce delineation between different web development roles.

10. Complimentary Technology to WPF and ASP.NET AJAX

Based on the .NET Framework, Silverlight enables designers and developers to easily use existing skills and tools to deliver stunning vector-based graphics, media, text, animation and overlays within new or existing Web applications. It also integrates seamlessly with ASP.NET AJAX, and provides a continuum from ASP.NET AJAX for Standards-Based Websites to Silverlight for Rich Interactive Applications to WFP for Connected Desktop Applications.

Summary

Expression Web is part of Microsoft's new Expression suite of products that bring a new, rich set of tools targeted at designers.  Expression Web was specifically created to address the needs of web designers, unlike Visual Web Develop Express, part of the Visual Studio family, which addresses the needs of web developers.  Although Expression Web shares a similar interface to Visual Web Developer express, this new tool offers powerful functionality that a designer desires when creating a web site.   This whitepaper describes the key features of Expression Web and describes specific functionality that Visual Web Developer does not include.

Content

• Introduction
• Expression Web Key Features
• Visual Web Developer Express Key Features
• Product Feature Comparison Summary

Introduction

Expression Web, part of Microsoft's Expression suite of products, takes the many sides of a designer's creative personality to all new levels. Professional design tools provide a greater flexibility to create sophisticated applications and content.  Expression web delivers a set of features that enable web designers to create compelling designs effortlessly, while also providing compatibility with powerful developer tools to facilitate the development process of the completed site.

Visual Web Developer Express (VWD), part of the Visual Studio family, was designed to address the unique needs of the new Web Developers and offers features that make building dynamic Web applications effortless.  It's a tool that was created to focus on the needs of hobbyists, enthusiasts, and students.

While both products are within the realm of web site and web application creation, the two products target different roles when building web sites. Expression Web has been created for designers to create the look and feel of the site using visual tools to work with technologies like Cascading Style Sheets whereas Visual Web Developer Express) targets developers who add application logic and code.

Expression Web Key Features

Powerful XML/XSLT support 

Expression Web makes it easy to incorporate external data sources so that designers can add live and up-to-date data to the design.  Industry-standard XML data can easily be incorporated into a page in a Data View by simply dragging and dropping from the file project list to the design surface.  After manipulating the data to be shown, powerful, WYSIWYG XSLT design tools offer the ability to style the XML data into a desired format.

Sophisticated CSS-Based Layout

Visual aids make it much easier to generate elegant CSS by offering guides to manipulate positioning, sizing, margins, and padding. The Style Application and Positioning toolbars provide precise control over how and where CSS styles are generated.

Extensive CSS Formatting

Deep support is provided throughout Expression Web to produce, manage, apply, and reuse CSS formatting.  Ranging from high-quality CSS rendering in the design surface,  to IntelliSense and typing aids in the code view, the user is in full control of how styles are created, stored, and deployed.

Unique Split Page View

When creating a web page some edits are better suited to Design View, and others are easier in the Code View. However, there are times when it is preferable to use both.  Split View provides this alternative by splitting the document into two horizontal panes.  It's possible to adjust the size of each window by dragging the splitter between each view.  This is a very useful view unique to Expression Web and provides the designer an opportunity to tweak the Design surface while seeing the change reflected in the Code surface at the exact same time and vice versa.

Visual Web Developer Express Key Features

Building Web Sites

You can build (validate) the current page or your entire web site at any time to help find compile-time errors.  It performs the same compilation tasks that occur when a page is requested in the browser.  However, the resulting object code is not used to run the page.  Building performs tasks, such as the following:

• Compiles the code in all pages in the site
• Compiles the code in the App_Code folder
• Compiles code in the Global.asax file
• Resolves and, if necessary, compiles any dependent resources
• Parses the configuration file to look for invalid configuration elements

Database Explorer 

The Database Explorer allows you to connect to a database and view and manipulate its structure and data.  In VWD, the connections are restricted to local and read-only remote connections.  Features include the ability to create/modify/remove/refresh a connection, add a SQL Database, run database objects, working with T-SQL editor, create/modify stored procedures, create/modify user-defined functions and create/modify triggers.

Visual Debugger

Visual Debugger enables the ability to examine code while it is running and includes features that help you debug applications, including the following:

Breakpoints - Breakpoints are places in the code where the debugger will stop the application, allow you to view the current data state of the application and then step through each line of code.

Stepping - Once you have stopped at a breakpoint, you can run the code line by line (known as stepping through the code).  Visual Debugger includes a number of features to help you step through your code, such as iterators that allow you to specify how many times to step through a loop before stopping again.

Data Viewing - Many different options for viewing and tracking data while the application is running are provided.  The visual debugger allows you to modify the data while the application is stopped in break mode, and then continue to run the application with the modified data.

VB/C# IntelliSense

IntelliSense provides an array of features that makes VB/C# language references easily accessible.  When coding, you do not need to leave the Code editor to perform searches on language elements.  You can keep your context, find the information you need, insert language elements directly into your code, and even have IntelliSense complete your typing for you.   

Product Feature Comparison Summary

	Expression Web	Visual Web Developer Express
Accessibility  checker	Yes	No
CSS Support	Powerful design surface tools and CSS Properties Window	Basic CSS support
IntelliSense	Yes	Yes (including code support)
Page View	Design, Split, Code	Design, Source (same as "Code")
User  Experience	Full menu options targeted for web designer	Simplified menu options and defaults targeted for web developer
Built-in Web  server	Yes	Yes
XML Editor  Support	Full XML/XSLT	XML Only
Debugger	No	Yes
DB Explorer	No	Yes

For more information

For more information about Expression Web, visit the Microsoft Expression homepage at http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx

For more information about Visual Web Developer Express, visit the VWD homepage at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/

The Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 Web Development Learning Series has just been revamped with a new look and even more content.  The new site includes the option to choose from over 80 learning modules – including 6 virtual labs, 28 on-demand sessions and 47 live webcasts.  It’s a great resource to help Web developers already familiar with other languages, such as PHP, JSP, and ColdFusion, to extend their skill set to include ASP.NET 2.0.  The content is not only focused on ASP.NET, but also includes:

• An opportunity to learn about the next release of ASP.NET (codename: “Orcas”)
• Live webcasts about using the Microsoft AJAX Library with PHP, creating a mash-up using PHP,  and managing PHP and PHP applications with Internet Information Services 7 (IIS7)
• On-demand sessions about Expression Web

Also new to the site are virtual labs, which are the fastest and easiest way to test drive ASP.NET.
Interested in expanding your skill set?  Know anyone else that might be interested?  Either way, check out http://www.learn2asp.net
 

Wine.com has recently leveraged the power of ASP.NET AJAX to improve the user experience for customers visiting their site.  One example is that by updating the shopping cart without a full page refresh, the process of adding new items to the cart is made seamless.  By implementing this simple solution, the site has improved the overall User eXperience for buyers making online purchases. 

A less obvious, subtle change is the description that appears when clicking on the icons associated with each wine (e.g. Professional Ratings).  Rather than using an 'obtrusive' new browser window (which popup blockers may intially deny), definitions appear in a popup window directly on the page.  If a user were forced to use a new browser window or tab, the focus on the original page could be lost resulting in a less than ideal UX.

ASP.NET AJAX makes it is easy to add these kind of improvments to your site.  It would be interesting to analyze how many e-commerce sites incorporate AJAX functionality or are planning to use it in the near future.  Out of curiosity, has anyone seen a site implement an address form that does an auto lookup on a zip code and automatically populate the city and state? (I don't recall who mentioned this idea, but I think it would be nice subtle feature:)

One of my close friends from university continues his great work in Tanzania.  His latest project involves raising $407,000 Shillings for a new soccer field (with an exchange rate of 1 USD = 1,330.00 TZS; after conversion it works out to just over $300 USD).

In Greg's own word:

"The field on which Miemgeni FC play their daily football scrimmages is, by Canadian standards, and to put it mildly, sub-standard. Dirt covers approximately 90% of the field; the non-dirt areas consist of thick knee-high brush that is more difficult to penetrate than Italy’s defence in the 2006 World Cup; the vegetation’s sharp barbs that painfully fall into shoes have temporarily incapacitated many an attacker; sizeable stones and pebbles litter parts of the field; water run-off during the rainy season has carved an uneven trench across the pitch. Despite these challenging conditions, a shortage of high quality football pitches in the area means that spirited matches take place on this rugged ground on a near-daily basis.

There is one final significant imperfection at the home ground of Miemgeni FC, and that is the lack of proper goals. Currently the team uses straight tree branches stuck into the ground, which are unfortunately an attractive source of firewood to those who lack respect for football: the team’s already substandard goals therefore often disappear. A picture of the football pitch and of the current goals (when the posts have not been taken for firewood) can be seen in the following pictures." 

His blog posts are really funny and captures his day-to-day life there candidly- I'm hoping to help him redesign his website soon.

I’ve been using Vista for a couple of weeks and it’s definitely growing on me.  I originally tried a build back in June and I found things didn’t work too well.  The demos I tried, like extending a web app using sidebar gadgets was really cool, but I didn’t feel compelled to continue using the latest OS.

After RC1 was announced, I installed it again using a network install.  The installation process was extremely quick and painless – within 1 hour I had a new system running Vista and Office 2007.

Where did it go?

I’m sure there were many usability studies conducted during the design of the new OS.  Unfortunately, this leads to certain functions being difficult to find for someone using Windows XP for so many years.

For example, where did the “Run..” command go from the Start Menu?  It took me a while to find it because it’s defaulted not to show.  This probably makes sense for the majority of users – I’m sure many users, especially if you’re a new user, wouldn’t care to use that command.

What about “Add/Remove Programs”?  I’ve been so conditioned to use Add/Remove Program I didn’t think about a possible name change – simply “Programs”.    I tried to uninstall my fingerprint software (Lenovo software didn’t seem to work) when I came across this slight confusion.  Taking a step back – this makes sense, but it’ll take some time to adjust when you’re use to looking at something a certain way.

Other than these two small quirks, the experience has been great.  It’s a sleek look and a pleasure to use.  Before I had a chance to try Vista, I wasn’t sure why someone would consider upgrading from Windows XP Professional to the new OS.  After using it, I definitely feel the user experience has been improved significantly and it’s a worthwhile investment. 

(It would be great if there was a “Windows XP” UI that could be applied.)

I have an upcoming webcast targetted towards a business audience about ASP.NET 2.0 .  It'll  will provide the general reasons for why you should use ASP.NET by covering the following aspects:

-Investigating developer productivity
-Exploring extensibility, scalability and reliability
-Discovering better user experience

It will take place on Thursday, August 31st, 2006, at 9:00 AM PST.

You can register and find more information for the event here.

It's been a while since my first initial blog entry and hopefully it will be the last time such a long period of time passes before another one is added.

I've been busy becoming acclimated with my role and continuing to meet various people across different teams.  There are many extremely talented individuals that work here and more importantly it’s been great interacting with every one of them.  The number of different teams and the broad range of projects truly amaze me.

I’m excited about the work I have in the pipeline and can’t wait to deliver.   

An average of one new weblog is created every second of every day according to Technorati.com.  So I guess during the completion of my first entry to the blogging world there will be another 180...

 

I'm starting my third week here at Microsoft and creating my first blog ever!  I would like to start off by thanking Brian Goldfarb for giving me the opportunity to join the Web Platform and Tools Product Management team.  It's interesting to note that I first contacted Brian through a job posting on his blog.  I'm really excited about my new position and it looks like I'll be working with some awesome people (at least that's what it seems like so far :).

 

Previously, I was working in Deloitte's consulting practice located in Toronto, Ontario.  It was my first full-time job after graduating from the Systems Engineering program at the University of Waterloo.  Although I was not particularly 'academically-inclined', I was fortunate to enjoy a diverse set of co-op placements, including:  Nortel in Raleigh, NC, a law firm in the Cayman Islands, and QUALCOMM in San Diego.  During my work terms I was working primarily with web technologies and I decided to choose this position at Microsoft in order to return to web-related work.

 

I'm not exactly sure what I'll write about in future entries, but I definitely plan on making at least a few interesting posts.

 

Hmmm…I was wrong, according to the metric there were about 300 new weblogs.