- From: Matthew Raymond <spacedog@planetquake.com>
- Date: Wed, 09 Jun 2004 20:55:34 -0400
I propose that the WHAT WG work on a specification for a subset of Mozilla XUL that for the purposes of this message I will call XUL Basic. XUL Basic will actually be the combination of two smaller XUL subsets which I will refer to as "Keymaster" and "Gatekeeper". === "KEYMASTER" === The first subset, "Keymaster", is designed for use in tandem with XHTML. The idea is to create a subset that can be used in a mixed XUL+XHTML environment to enhance existing XHTML web applications with controls that don't exist in XHTML 1.0 itself. Here is the list of elements: box hbox menu menubar menuitem menupopup menuseparator tab tabbox tabpanel tabpanels tabs vbox "Keymaster" is intended for inclusion in browsers and other programs that already support XHTML or another language with similar features. This subset is compatible with the existing XUL motors Luxor XUL Toolkit and Zulu: http://luxor-xul.sourceforge.net/ http://zulu.netspedition.com/zulu/main/overview.shtml === "GATEKEEPER" === The second subset, "Gatekeeper", is designed to provide basic support for forms that are similar in features to those you can currently create using HTML. This subset allows the creation of simple XUL-based web applications contained in their own dialogs or windows. Here is the list of XUL elements: button checkbox column columns description dialog hbox image label menuitem menulist menupopup radio radiogroup row rows separator spacer textbox vbox window Nearly the entire "Gatekeeper" XUL subset is supported by Macromedia's XML2UI (which I believe is part of Flash MX 2004. See the following page for details: http://garland.duramedia.net/pipermail/extendflash_flashguru.co.uk/20040419/000734.html XML2UI doesn't support description, image or window. We could theoretically make this part of the specification optional, but I'm not convinced that it's necessary. The element menupopup is supported in the form "menupop". I don't see the point in changing the name of the tag to save two characters, personally. Macromedia should be reasonably capable of updating Flash MX 2004 to meet this potential specification. === XUL BASIC === XUL Basic is the combining of the above two specifications. It allows menus, tabs, dialogs and every type of control currently supported by HTML, and it does it all with 32 tags. The two subset approach allows developers to pick the subset that would be most advantageous to implement, then go back and add the other subset when they have the resources. XUL Basic is intended to be similar to XHTML Basic. It would serve as a core standard for XUL support that would be relatively easy to approve compared to a full specification of Mozilla XUL. Once approved, other modules could be added to form a more complete specification of XUL. === In Closing... === I'm not entirely sure this is in the scope of the WHAT WG's charter. Let me know if this is not the case. I felt this idea was important enough to present on this mailing list, so I went ahead and posted. If there is a more appropriate venue for this message, please let me know. Thoughts, comments and constructive criticism are welcome.
Received on Wednesday, 9 June 2004 17:55:34 UTC