Using Silverlight for an entire website?

Question

We need to build an administration portal website to support our client/server application. Since we\'re a .Net shop the obvious traditional way would be to do that in ASP.Net.

Answer 1

The previous comments have dealt with most of the downsides of using Silverlight for a site like this and I agree. If you're determined to have rich-client style development and your audience is small (for admins only) then I'd probably recommend WPF over Silverlight as it currently provides a richer set of tools and controls.

If you stick with ASP.NET have you looked at Dynamic Data - it's ideal for building backend management sites with little effort.

Answer 2

ASP all the way. You should only use silverlight/flash etc when text can't do what you want it to do - e.g. display video.

Answer 3

I agree with what everyone had said so far and I think this Flow Chart, which is aimed at Flash, also applies to Silverlight.

Source of Image

Answer 4

It sounds like your problem is that you need a rich-client admin application. Why not use click-once?

Answer 5

I've seen "Silverlight only" websites at Microsoft and they are pretty impressive. But again, the demos were there to exploit the full potential of what Silverlight can do. The moment you need something different you may be out of luck. I don't see Silverlight like Flash except in the way they are installed/seen. But the Flash/ActionScript backend is really bad compared to what Visual Studio can offer with .NET

Ask yourself why would you like to use Silverlight? Fancy effects or programming model?

Answer 6

There are some downsides with developing a site completely in Flash / Silverlight, but if those downsides won't matter to you or won't have an impact then there is nothing stopping you. Choose whatever tool you think meets your needs more fully. I wouldn't be put off creating a site purely in Silverlight based on the downsides, because it brings a lot more positives to the user experience.