New Architect > Archives > 2002 > January > Bookmarks

For Example

By Eugene E. Kim

The browser wars of yore were decided years ago, with Microsoft Internet Explorer comfortably occupying the top spot. As a result, relatively few people have paid attention to the latest versions of Netscape Navigator other than to take the occasional cheap shot at it.

Some ascribe Netscape's failures to the failure of the open-source development model, which the company adopted for its flagship browser in 1998. However, nothing could be further from the truth. In many ways, Mozilla, the open-source browser on which Navigator is based, has been a wild success, a role model for open-source software. In addition to being a fast and feature-rich application with strong support for open standards, the Mozilla project has spawned several other excellent technologies, many of which have become integral components in other open-source and proprietary projects.

One of these technologies is XUL, an XML vocabulary for describing user interfaces. Vaughn Bullard, Kevin T. Smith, and Michael C. Daconta's Essential XUL Programming is the first book on XUL, and provides a solid introduction to the technology.

Essential XUL Programming By Vaughn Bullard, Kevin T. Smith, and Michael C. Daconta John Wiley and Sons, 2001, 418pp.<>