Silverlight development [Visual Studio 2008 vs Expression Blend]

Question

I'm a .Net developer and want to get into developing Silverlight applications. I have VS 2008 but wanted to know if I should/need expression blend. What are pros/cons of having blend along side VS?

Answer 1

I don't mean to push my own questions, but this might help you a little, especially if you are not familiar with Expression Studio or Expression Blend: "What exactly is Microsoft Expression Studio and how does it integrate with Visual Studio?"

Answer 2

The major pro is that it is the visual design surface for the XAML for Silverlight. Right now, the visual design surface in VS for Silverlight is read-only. I always describe Blend as a graphical XAML editor. It is incredibly powerful for helping you to understand XAML, easily create animations that may be needed, template controls, position your application elements, etc.