Microsoft Silverlight is a cross-browser, cross-platform implementation of the .NET Framework for building media experiences and rich interactive applications for the web, the desktop, and Windows Phone.

The documentation in this section applies to Silverlight 5, Silverlight 4, Silverlight 3, and Silverlight for Windows Phone. For version differences check the Version Information section when using a class library topic, or look for version-specific notes in other topic types. For more information about version differences, see What's New in Silverlight 5 and What's New in Silverlight for Windows Phone.

The following sections describe how to build applications with Silverlight:

• .NET Framework Class Library for Silverlight

• Silverlight Overview

• Getting Started with Silverlight

• Application and Programming Models

• Layout, Input, and Printing

• Controls

• Graphics, Animation, and Media

• XAML

• Integrating Silverlight with a Web Page

• Types, Properties, Methods, and Events

• Data Access and Data Structures

• Networking and Web Services

• Debugging, Error Handling, and Exceptions

• Deployment and Localization

• Performance

• Security

• Mobile Platform Development

• General Reference

Offline Documentation

• Silverlight 5 documentation (CHM file)

• Silverlight 4 documentation (CHM file)

• Silverlight 3 documentation (CHM file)

• Windows Phone OS 7.0 developer documentation (CHM file)

External Resources

• Silverlight.net

• Silverlight downloads on Silverlight.net

• Silverlight SDK blog