Microsoft

QA has been working very closely with Microsoft in delivering Silverlight training to their early adopter partners in both the UK and Western Europe. The programme builds on the work QA has done with Microsoft over the last five years, with a history of delivering early-adopter programmes for web and applications development technology.

We delivered training on behalf of Microsoft for the first version of the technology – Silverlight 1 – to web design agencies in the UK, Istanbul and Europe. Taking place between November 2007 and March 2008 we received strongly positive feedback on both the technology itself and the instructor delivering the courses.

From April 2008 we have been working closely with Microsoft on the development of training material for Silverlight 2, and the training course was updated in autumn 2008 with a strong schedule running from January 2009.  The four day instructor-led course teaches developers and designers how to use the Expression Studio product set to build rich and compelling user experiences based on the Silverlight 2 platform. Our main audience is designers, including graphic and web designers who may currently use applications such as Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. We think the course is also particularly relevant for developers who want to create rich front end applications.

Michael McClary, Digital Agency Platform Strategy Advisor at Microsoft UK
“We believe that training is one of the major drivers in ensuring that new technologies are successfully adopted into the marketplace, so it’s important to us that we can proactively help partners and early-adopters to get the skills they need quickly. We’ve worked with QA for a number of years on similar technologies and are delighted that they are helping our partners and customers take advantage of Silverlight within their user experience and Web technology development projects.”

The course

• Module 1: Fundamentals of Microsoft Silverlight
• Module 2: Introducing the Workflow for Building Silverlight Experiences
• Module 3: Preparing Images by Using Microsoft Expression Design
• Module 4: Introducing Microsoft Expression Blend
• Module 5: Creating a Simple User Interface by Using Microsoft® Expression Blend
• Module 6: Designing by Using Controls
• Module 7: Publishing Media Content
• Module 6: Designing by Using Controls
• Module 9: Handing Off Your Project to a Developer
• Module 10: Performing Basic Development Tasks in Microsoft Silverlight
• Module 11: Enhancing the User Experience
• Module 12: Creating Advanced Animations
• Module 13: Creating Advanced Media Effects
• Module 14: Publishing Your Microsoft Silverlight Application