Oftentimes, it is more convenient to group .NET Controls within an UserControl using the Designer mode of Visual Studio rather than go through the non-visual experience of creating a server control inheriting from the WebControl class. In the context of SharePoint, the ~/_controltemplates/ virtual folder...

At present, Microsoft’s Expression Blend (using the March CTP 2.5) is the best way to graphically manipulate and generate a Silverlight UI. The SDK for Visual Studio 2008 does not provide support for manipulating Silverlight elements using the layout view, but does provide intellisense (which Blend lacks...