Featured Site: Inkubook
Where? http://inkubook.com/
Developer: Inkubook

The Site

Inkubook, an Author Solutions brand, is an easy-to-use online service that enables people to make heirloom-quality photo books in minutes. Anyone with an Internet connection can upload photos, choose a layout and style, and drag the pictures into a virtual photo album. When the customer is ready to produce the hardcopy album, it is printed on 100 lb. archival-quality silk paper and shipped within a few business days. Inkubook creators can invite friends to contribute text and photos, which makes collaborative book-making fast and fun. "Inkubook makes it easy for everyone, even those who don't consider themselves technologically savvy, to manage photo book projects and create gorgeous keepsakes in minutes," said Dave McCauley, president of Inkubook.

The Inkubook website was created using a wide range of Microsoft® technologies, including Microsoft Silverlight 2.0, a member of the Windows Live network of Internet services. Specifically, the photo book-editing interface is a Silverlight application that provides an interactive environment for customers to create their photo albums. "Silverlight allows us to maintain a responsive, rich user interface for building photo books of all kinds," says McCauley.

Why the Windows Live Platform?

When asked about the benefits of deploying Silverlight, Director of IT James Stanley quickly cites speed to market. "We had a very challenging time frame," he explains. "The Silverlight platform afforded us a way to create an interactive customer experience quickly. Silverlight also works as expected; it's fast and very smooth." Other benefits of Silverlight include:

• Cross-browser compatibility eases programming and covers the vast majority of end-users.
• Easy to learn programming interface required no additional developer training.
• Useful SDK's and API provided helpful reference information.

Programming Environment

Inkubook's team used Microsoft development technologies to build and support the website, including Microsoft .NET framework 3.5, Visual Studio Team System 2008, ASP.NET 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation, Windows Server 2008, Team Foundation Server 2008, Expression Studio 2.0, and SQL Server 2005.

Under the Hood

The following XAML code sample shows how a photo book page is set up and rendered in Silverlight.

<UserControl x:Class="Asi.Inkubook.Silverlight.Editor.PageTurnUC"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:vsm="clr-namespace:System.Windows;assembly=System.Windows" >

<UserControl.Resources>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalBrownGradient" EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0">

<GradientStop Color="#FF928C7E"/>

<GradientStop Color="#FF5A5851" Offset="1"/>

</LinearGradientBrush>

<Style x:Key="EditorPanScrollStyle" TargetType="ScrollBar">

<Setter Property="Template">

<Setter.Value>

<ControlTemplate TargetType="ScrollBar">