I have a goal. It's the same goal I've had for about three years. I'll never get there, but the journey is sometimes really fun and other times really frustrating. My goal is to be an expert in Microsoft Expression Blend. Don't get me wrong. There are thousands of experts in Blend. I will just never be one of them. And it is for a variety of small reasons I'll never be an expert; and one big one: I don't have the aptitude to be a good designer.
I have the attitude; I just don't have the aptitude. My "black and white" personality is counterproductive to having talent in design. My inability to notice the things around me and in the user experience is a handicap to designing for others. But, in the last five years I have become fascinated with user interface and user experience design. I think about it all the time. I study it. I speak in front of large audiences about it and demonstrate it to them. The natural user interface (NUI) is my passion. I'll just never be good at design and will always be envious of the people who are.
But, what I do have the aptitude for is to be proficient in Microsoft Expression Blend. It's something I work on in my spare time because it's fun. For those new to Silverlight, Blend is the tool that emits XAML. XAML is the UI technology for Silverlight (and WPF, and Surface, and Windows Phone 7). It is the power of XAML that is manifesting into some of these popular games you see on the Silverlight web properties and on Windows Phone 7. And behind all these games are animations. XAML has an extensive API for animations, and the easiest, most powerful way to do animations is with the XAML Storyboard. A Storyboard is like a movie. It's is sequential step of actions that create an animation.
I had to come up with a compelling demo that highlighted the power of Microsoft Expression Blend for a presentation I did at DevConnections in Orlando last week. So, I set out on a mission to learn Blend well enough to do a Silverlight animation based on Storyboards, which I would create entirely from the Blend Interface without having to go into the editor and type any XAML.
You can download the painstakingly detailed instructions on how to build this simple Silverlight animations app entirely in Blend from my blog, "
How to build a simple Silverlight Animation App in Blend." In this article, I'll talk about my experiences using Blend to create the animation.