XML User Interface Language (XUL) Links
Getting Started - Overview
Xul Tutorial @ Xul Planet
http://xulplanet.com/tutorials/xultu/
Neil Deakin's example-packed, no-fluff Xul workout
Xul Intro @ Mozilla
http://www.mozilla.org/xpfe/xptoolkit/overview.html
Beyond hairballs and spaghetti code: separate content, appearance, behavior and locale
Creating Applications with Mozilla Using XUL, CSS and Javascript
http://books.mozdev.org
O'Reilly's 500-page Xul thriller
by David Boswell, Brian King, Ian Oeschger, Pete Collins, Eric Murphy (September 2002);
all twelve chapters available for free in HTML under the Open Publication License;
1. Mozilla as Platform;
2. Getting Started;
3. XUL Elements and Features;
4. CSS in Mozilla Applications;
5. Scripting Mozilla;
6. Packaging and Installing Applications;
7. Extending the UI with XBL;
8. XPCOM;
9. XUL Templates;
10. RDF, RDF Tools, and the Content Model;
11. Localization;
12. Remote Applications
Articles
Peter Bojanic; The Joy of XUL (March 2002)
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/xul/joy-of-xul.html
Praises XUL's key benefits including:
Powerful widget markup (XML, Babe);
Builts on proven standards (Reuse, Reuse, Reuse);
Platform portability (Runs Anywhere);
Splits presentation and application logic (Beyond Hairballs and Spaghetti Code);
Easy customization, localization, or branding (Your Way or the Highway)
DevX: Nigel McFarlane; New GUIs: XML Is The Heir Apparent;
The future of GUI development isn't class libraries, frameworks or platforms. It's XML (October 2002)
http://www.devx.com/DevX/Article/9605
Are you ready for a GUI technology that doesn't require you to learn a class library?
Could XUL be, finally, the simple, cross-platform solution to two decades
of GUI programming frustration?
To me, there's no other future.
It has that comforting old-fashioned buzzword-compliance feel about it: cross-platfrom,
human readable, client-server, extensible, integrated. Most of all, it has the beauty of
simplicity.
DevX: Nigel McFarlane; XUL Defines New User Interface Options (August 2002)
http://www.devx.com/webdev/Article/9312
Because XUL files consist of plain-text XML, XUL avoids the problem of 3GL code
tortuously exploiting some low-level library like Win32, Swing or Gtk.
DevX: A. Russell Jones; SWT, XML Put True Cross-platform GUIs Within Reach (October 2002)
http://www.devx.com/xml/Article/9782
Wouldn't you like to be able to design GUIs in a medium that wasn't entirely
dependent on a specific development environment or delivery platform - and then
be able to activate that GUI from the language of your choice, and have it
run in any platform?
MSDN: Paul DiLascia; .Nyet GUI Bliss: Streamline Your Code
And Simplify Localization Using an XML-Based GUI Language Parser (November 2002)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/02/11/NETGUIBliss/
I knew I wanted something like RC files that would let me express
menu and other UI definitions in a separate and therefore more easily
translatable file, using some kind of special language.
What better language to use than XML? In fact, such a language already exists:
XUL ("zool"), the XML Userinterface Language. XUL is a dialect of XML
for describing user interfaces.
But it's not hard to write a mini-XUL that supports only the widgets
you need. XUL - or something like it - is just the ticket to GUI greatness!
Salon: Farhad Manjoo; Mozilla Rising (September 2002)
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/09/10/browser_wars/
Netscape won't dislodge Internet Exporer from its hegemony over browser space. But its
open-source sibling is aiming at even bigger game: Windows;
For a piece of software, the Web browser has remained remarkably stagnant during the nine years it's been around;
But the way things are going now, whatever new features you want are probably not going to come from Microsoft;
Now they say they've been proved right -- I.E. is not changing;
Microsoft has no reason to radically change Internet Explorer. The product doesn't make the company any money
and it's already overwhelmingly popular.
Sitepoint: Harry Fuecks; Introducing XUL - The Net's Biggest Secret (May 2003)
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/1140
Episode I of Harry's XUL article trilogy:
In one of the Internet's quieter corners, mozilla.org,
a revolution has been taking place.
A new XML format, called XUL (eXtensible User Interface Language),
pronounced "Zool", is on the way to re-shaping what we know about both the Internet,
and desktop applications. A bold claim perhaps -- but once you've finished reading
this, you may just find yourself agreeing.
Talk Slides, Presentations
Luxor: The "Linux Kernel" for Desktop Apps - Uniting XUL, SVG, HTML, Velocity, Web Start, XSL/T, Python and more
http://luxor-xul.sourceforge.net/talk/vanx-jul-2002/slides.html
Fast-Paced, example packed Xul Intro (50+ slides)
Luxor Xul - Beyond Swing and HTML: Building Rich, Cross-Platform, Zero-Admin Desktop Apps on Open Standards Today
http://luxor-xul.sourceforge.net/talk/jug-oct-2001/slides.html
35.000 feet Luxor Xul panorama (50+ slides)
Major Open-Source XUL Motors - The Big Three
Mozilla
http://www.mozilla.org
Xul Granddaddy; runs on Mac OS, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, Irix, BeOS, HPUX, OS/2, BSD, and more
Luxor
http://luxor-xul.sourceforge.net
Xul toolkit includes web server, portal engine, template engine, scripting interpreter and more;
GNU General Public License (GPL); Headed by Gerald Bauer
XML Windowing Toolkit (XWT)
http://www.xwt.org
Xul "Lite"; available as self-installing ActiveX browser plug-in;
developed in Java; GNU General Public License (GPL); Headed By Adam Megacz
More Open-Source XML UI Builders (aka XUL Motors)
JellySwing
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/sandbox/jelly/jellyswing.html
Jelly Add-On/Taglib For Building Swing UIs; Apache License; Headed By James Strachan (of dom4j, jaxen and more fame)
JellySWT
http://jakarta.apache.org/commons/sandbox/jelly/jellyswt.html
Jelly Add-On/Taglib For Building SWT UIs; Apache License; Headed By James Strachan
Thinlets
http://www.thinlet.com
Tiny XUL Motor in Java (less than 30k); designed for applets or mobile devices; runs even on Java 1.1; no Swing required;
GNU Lesser Public License (LGPL); Headed By Robert Bajzat;
check out the Amazon Browser example app (showing off XUL and Web Services); includes Web Start demos
SwixML
http://www.swixml.org
Tiny (less than 30k) XUL Motor in Java for creating Swing UIs for apps or applets;
Apache-Style License; Headed By Wolf Paulus (of Theodore - XUL UI Designer for Thinlet - fame)
Jazilla NG
http://jazilla.sourceforge.net
Reborn Mozilla Browser Clone In Java Includes XUL Motor named JzXUL (forked off from jXUL);
Mozilla Public License (MPL); Headed by Mathew McBride
KoalaGML
http://koalagml.sourceforge.net
XUL motor in Java for building Swing UIs; includes Pnats scripting engine;
GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL);
headed by Fabian Pena and Ricardo Zuasti
SwingML
http://swingml.sourceforge.net
XUL motor in Java for building Swing UIs; GNU Lesser Public License (LGPL); Headed By Ezequiel Cuellar
XUI
http://xui.sourceforge.net
XUL motor in Java for building AWT UIs running on Java 1.1.8 and up;
Artistic License; Headed by Luan O'Carroll
Axualize
http://axualize.sourceforge.net
XUL motor in Java for building Swing UIs using Sun's long-term bean persistence XML format
(Java Spec #57); also includes an XML scripting engine;
GNU Lesser General Public License; headed by Russell White
Java GUI Builder (JGB)
http://jgb.sourceforge.net
XUL motor in Java for building Swing UIs, GNU General Public License (GPL); Headed By Francois Beausoleil
Not Yet Xulux (Nyx)
http://nyx.xulux.org
XML Forms Engine using Swing; Apache License; Headed By Martin van den Bemt
GUI Builder
http://www.guibuilder.de
XUL motor in Java building Swing UIs using XUL dialect dubbed "GUI Design Language" (GDL);
includes scripting in Pnuts; Headed by Peter Koeker;
includes a JavaDoc-like tool dubbed GuiDoc that automatically creates HTML documentation
from Xul files; GNU Lesser Public License; (Note: German site ahead)
MotLib.Net
http://motlib.net
Tiny XUL Engine in C# for .Nyet using Windows Forms; First Published in MSDN Magazine (November 2002);
Headed By Paul DiLascia
XUL2GTK
http://www.phppatterns.com/index.php/article/articleview/48/1/2/
XUL Motor Prototype in PHP for GTK; GNU Library General Public License (LGPL); Headed By Harry Fuecks
Dead/Neglected Open-Source XML UI Builders (aka XUL Motors)
Xulux
http://www.xulux.org
Java XUL Toolkit; Apache License; No Code Yet; Founded By Martin van den Bemt and James Strachan;
Died Aboring
jXUL
http://jxul.sourceforge.net
Code Drop from the book "Essential XUL Programming";
GNU General Public License (GPL); Founded By Vaughn Bullard, Kevin T. Smith, Michael C. Daconta;
Dead Since October 2001
Xybrix
http://www.jbrix.org/kits/xybrix/overview.html | http://sourceforge.net/projects/xybrix
Java Xul motor for building Swing UIs dressed up in Kunststoff L&F; includes XForms support; MIT License;
Headed by Jim Wissner; Frozen since October 2001 at version 0.1
Proto
http://www.pierlou.com/prototype/
Xul forerunner, builds Swing UIs from XML descriptions and supports scripting in Javascript or Tcl;
Founded By Pierre Morel; Frozen since 1999
Closed-Source XML UI Builders (aka XUL Motors)
Bambookit
http://www.bambookit.com
Montreal startup; tiny Java XUL toolkit (less than a 100k) designed for applets or mobile devices
runs on Java 1.1 and up; Headed By Louai Munajim;
starts at US $699 for 1 dev license/1 website license
and goes up to US $3,499 for 8 dev licenses/unlimited website licenses
eNode
http://www.enode.com
San Jose startup; Java XUL Toolkit for building Swing UIs; includes Web Services support and a XUL browser/sandbox
Zulu
http://netspedition.com/zulu.html
XUL Motor in 100% Actionscript using Macromedia Flash MX; Headed By Ovi Comes
JEasy
http://www.jeasy.de
XUL Motor in Java for building Swing UIs; Headed by Harry Pfohl;
Standard version US $49; Professional version US $490; Enterprise version US $4900
Apps Hall of Fame - XUL World Wonders and Beauty Queens
Komodo / Active State
http://www.activestate.com/Products/Komodo/ |
http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Mozilla
Dev Studio for Perl, Python, PHP, XSL/T and more
Venus Application Publisher (Vamp) / Boy Toys
http://www.vamphq.com
Tool suite that helps you develop, package, sign, catalog, publish, syndicate, rip, collect or install Web Start apps
Mozilla XUL Apps @ mozdev.org
http://www.mozdev.org |
http://www.mozdev.org/projects.html
Hosts over a hundred Moz XUL apps such as XULmine (XUL-based Minesweeper game),
Jabberzilla (Jabber IM client for Mozilla), Mozoffice (Office productivity suite project)
and many more.
Misc Links
James Strachan's Radio Weblog; Building Rich User Interfaces with XML
http://radio.weblogs.com/0112098/stories/2002/09/10/buildingRichUserInterfacesWithXml.html
Its becoming increasingly common to learn from web technologies
and apply them to older computing problems we faced before.
For example, SOAP and XML-RPC is changing the way we implement
distributed system intead of distributed object technologies like CORBA,
DCOM and EJB.
The area of rich user interfaces is also benefiting from lessons we've learnt
building web based user interfaces.
Robin Cover; Cover Pages: XML Markup Languages for User Interface Definition
http://xml.coverpages.org/userInterfaceXML.html
Hundreds of links including tons of links to hot-air papers from academia
describing Yet Another Abstract (translation: Useless) Interface Markup Language (YAAIML)
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