Silverlight is a framework for building rich, browser-hosted applications that run on a variety of operating systems. Silverlight works its magic through a browser plug-in. When you surf to a web page that includes Silverlight content, this browser plug-in runs, executes the code, and renders that content in a specifically designated region of the page. The important part is that the Silverlight plug-in provides a richer environment than the traditional blend of HTML and JavaScript that powers ordinary web pages. Used carefully and artfully, you can create Silverlight pages that play video, have hardwareaccelerated 3D graphics, and use vector animations.
Silverlight uses a familiar technique to go beyond the capabilities of standard web pages: a lightweight browser plug-in.
The advantage of the plug-in model is that the user needs to install just a single component to see content created by a range of different people and companies. Installing the plug-in requires a small download and forces the user to confirm the operation in at least one security dialog box. It takes a short but definite amount of time, and it’s an obvious inconvenience. However, once the plug-in is installed, the browser can process any content that uses the plug-in seamlessly, with no further prompting.
Figure 1 shows two views of a page with Silverlight content. At the top is the page you’ll see if you don’t have the Silverlight plug-in installed. At this point, you can click the Get Microsoft Silverlight picture to be taken to Microsoft’s website, where you’ll be prompted to install the plug-in and then sent back to the original page. On the bottom is the page you’ll see once the Silverlight plug-in is installed.
