XUL
Contents
Description
XUL which is pronounced zool stands for XML User Interface Language is a Mark-up language used primarily in Mozilla applications. XUL is used to define what the user interface will look like such as buttons and other widgets but it is not used to define how those item will look.
Discussion
XUL is an XML based language and thus has a similiar set of advantages. One of the biggest being that it that its completly cross-platform. It accomplishis this be defining the locations and type of each widget but not defining what it will look like. Because of this the user-interface will use the systems native componets to build the GUI and thus looks like a normal native application. XUL also allows for the insertion of other XML languages into it such as XHTML, MathML and SVG. Also because of its structure all the GUI componets and tezt is localized which makes it easy translate into other languages.
Currently, an application named XULRunner is being developed to offer a runtime environment for XUL applications.
Common Usages
- Chrome
- Firefox Extension's GUI
Supported Technologies
- HTML 4.0 and XHTML
- CSS2 and some of CSS3
- DOM2 and some of DOM3
- XML
- MathML
- RDF
- XSLT
- XPath
- Simple XLinks
- XPointer
- XML Base
- FIXPtr
- XML-RPC
- SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol)
- WSDL (Web Services Description Language)
- ECMAScript/Javascript
- XBL (eXtensible Bindings Language)
- GIF, JPG, PNG, BMP, ICO images
- HTTP 1.1
Sample Code
<?xml version="1.0"?> <?xml-stylesheet href="chrome://global/skin" type="text/css" ?> <window xmlns="http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul" align="center" pack="center"> <description>Is XUL cool or what?</description> <radiogroup> <radio id="yes" selected="true" label="Yes!"/> <radio id="no" label="No wai"/> </radiogroup> <button id="dpsbutton" label="DPS909 is fun" /> </window>
Example Applications
- Mozilla Amazon Browser (MAB) - Rich web application that allows for searching of Amazon's content across their 6 websites (US, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany and France). Can be used through the web or downloaded to the desktop.
- XUL Periodic Table - Demonstrates many of the visual capabilities of XUL.
Newsgroups, Mailinglists, IRC Channels
- mozilla.dev.tech.xul newsgroup (alternatively, use Google Groups)
- dev-tech-xul mailinglist (manually use dev-tech-xul@lists.mozilla.org)
- #xul on irc.mozilla.org
