Silverlight 1.0 Beta made use of two commonly known technologies: XML and JavaScript. This fact made it easy for many developers with such knowledge to develop rich Internet cross-browser applications. Silverlight introduced XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language), the XML document that describes the user interface of an application. Silverlight 1.0 Beta relies on JavaScript, the famous browser scripting language with a very wide base of developers.

Combining these two common technologies made learning Silverlight very easy and straightforward. Collaboration between a developer and a designer with Silverlight is clear and seamless. The designer can work comfortably and creatively in Microsoft Blend and Design and the output is readily available for the developer within Microsoft Visual Studio. Both the designer and the developer can manipulate XAML files to control appearance and behavior of the application controls (or assets). While the designer is creating and manipulating assets in design tools, the developer will work with JavaScript code to provide more application logic and features.