The Forgotten Macro Language of HTML: XBL 2.0

tvlinux writes "The web is becoming more than just a media display; there is more interaction and more special things that need to be done. Right now, jQuery is the preferred method of a very dynamic user interface. There is a W3 standard called XBL2.0. It is the macro language of HTML. To me it seems like a great idea — reusable HTML widgets, where each one is a separate object contained with in itself. You can define properties, methods, and events, each of which is self-contained. If the browsers supported XBL2, I can envision a whole ecosystem of new widgets, charts, grids and inputs that people could add to web pages just like any other HTML element. I see less experienced developers being able to create fancy websites by just using DOM and not having to learn jquery. My question: why is XBL dead? I think a macro-language for HTML is a good idea." XBL is alive and well, but only for XUL. Looks like another casualty of HTML5's rejection of XML.

Comments

There is no Dana, only XUL

[Anonymous Coward]

XUL: Do you want this <body/>?

Venkman: Is this a trick question or what?

Why is it dead:

[psholty2]

Plain old HTML:

<li onmouseover="doSomething();">...</li>

Same thing with XBL:

<xbl xmlns="http://www.w3.org/ns/xbl">
    <binding element="#nav li">
        <handlers>
            <handler event="mouseover">
                doSomething();
            </handler>
        </handlers>
    </binding>
</xbl>

Re:Visual Studio for ASP.NET

[alexo]

Just remember that ISS is mostly used on internal servers. Netcraft doesn't and can't access that information.

Not true.

IIS may be mostly used on internal servers. The ISS is as external as you can get.