What is Digg?
83 Comments
- Robotsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9"No digg, not cross platform. Amazing SOA though."
But it essentially is cross-platform. If you would look at the later Gecko and Mozilla Firefox product roadmaps, you would see that somewhere in the 1st Quarter of 2007 (the definetly not solid release date for Firefox 3), all Mozilla applications of note are switching to be run under the XULRunner Mozilla runtime.
And to everyone squabbling about whether it is XUL, a Firefox extension, a Mozilla application or whatever... You need to understand the basic principles behind Mozilla-based applications (including firefox / thunderbird) and their relation to XUL and and the previously-unmentioned XPCOM. I'll try to put it simply, if not succinctly:
Mozilla is a general framework on top of which XUL/XPCOM-based applications can run. Firefox runs on the Mozilla framework. The dialogs and interfaces created for Mozilla-based applications' interfaces are described in the XML-based markup known as XUL. XUL documents are pretty simple things to understand and, for example, uses things like to create a listbox element; seems explicit and simple enough, eh? XUL files can, much like an HTML file, include inline and refer to external Javascript documents. Javascript files are another piece of the Mozilla-based applications puzzel. Javascript files have the ability to instantiate and utilize the core of Mozilla's services which is known as XPCOM. The XPCOM is a set of functions for things like File I/O, manipulating the browser history (in the case of firefox or forcing navigation), generating an "Open File" dialog and many other such activities. All these services offered (AFAIK) are intended to be cross-platform.
So, so far we know how programs like Firefox draw their interfaces, interact with core mozilla services, and that it is cross-platform. It is important to point out at this point, that a Firefox extension is just some sort of javascript file or another program that hooks onto internal services (javascript isn't the only language that can access XPCOM) and an XUL file with which it describes an interface. Which is exactly what this Mozilla Amazon program is at the core. The only difference between a Firefox extension an any other lone XUL application is that Firefox Extensions are put in a specific directory heirarchy and thrown into .jar files (which is just a renamed .zip file) with some RDF files and other meta-data that make it identify as an extension. But the core code, the XUL and Javascript upon which the program is created, are exactly the same and require no modification!
So basically, they are -all- XUL applications.
Which is what makes this so awesome about the Mozilla framework. Not only is it cross-platform in regards to what type of computer it can run on, it is "cross-platform" in the fact that it is amazingly eash to port code from one Mozilla-based application to another, with the only changes necessary being probably some sort of file structure or a meta-data file of some sort.
Now, I have been messing with Firefox extensions and Mozilla-based/XUL applications on and off for a few months, and I'm still in love with the whole framework :). What I have been experimenting with lately is XULRunner. XULRunner is a basic runtime environment for XUL applications. Eventually all Mozilla programs will run through it. And even though it has been around for many many many years, I think the recent success of Firefox will help push this cool technology to the forefront in 1-2 years. I was messing with a vCard 3.0 editor/creator for my iPod nano for the Contacts in XULRunner. I have been developing my program on Linux, and I took it to school to work on it during lab time... I was very pleased to find out that it ran without any modification perfectly on Windows, just as it did on Linux. So far XULRunner seems exceedingly stable, and I can't wait for an official release! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7hahahaha, that's awesome!! digg( );
Also, if you just want plain xul elements, you can check out the XUL "Periodic Table":
http://www.hevanet.com/acorbin/xul/top.xul
just the basics. - st3v, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Note that all things you search from this and purchase will make money for the author of this XUL site, since he put his referrer link in each link.
- mikeod, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I hear amazon.com has a similar search engine.
- chrono13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"Note that all things you search from this and purchase will make money for the author of this XUL site, since he put his referrer link in each link."
As s/he should. This is great work.
"I'll bet there's a phishing vector in here somewhere."
Not on this page - but you can bet it would be easy to implement one. I'll be shopping by normal means (directly) - not through third party sites, thank you : )
And yes, I know this links directly, the point is that it is infinitely more safe to simply type "amazon.com" in my address bar and be relatively sure that is where I am arriving. - PlancksCnst, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ugly, but interesting.
- rfugger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This guy should make money for promoting firefox! MAB - Mozilla Amazon Browser: http://mab.mozdev.org/
- gorndog, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3dude3609, this is not a firefox extension -- it is XUL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xul - kherrick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yeah, you can try other xul examples here:
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Category:XULRunner:Examples - panique, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'll bet there's a phishing vector in here somewhere.
- jkichline, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is not real news, although I am glad to see XUL get some coverage. It really is a great markup language for user interfaces. I'd love to have time to do more with it. But really what this is... some XUL for an interface, Mozilla Webservice Proxy and Amazon's Webservice API. I had built the same thing in ASP (ick) about 2 years ago for an intranet project with pictures, barcode integration, etc. I guess I should start making this stuff public and posting eh?
- simd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great potential for Intranets ... might help convince a few corporates to make the shift?
- cmdrNacho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0this is a really nice app, for you that dont get it, obviously aren't developers
- disord3r, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0gorndog said: "this is not a firefox extension -- it is XUL"
What do you think most extensions are? For all intents and purposes, this is just a remotely hosted Firefox extension. - SirThom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very very cool, from a developer standpoint.
*learns XUL* - speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0woo hoo 1006 diggs!
- Darkness123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That is great, if would be better if it can also search other websites as well
- speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@tekenaid
I got 45 results for turbo tax... you have to click "software" on the catalog menu.
See screenshot: http://img65.imageshack.us/img65/1719/turbotaxamazon9pq.png
I don't know why you have to choose a catalog though - tenkenaid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Doesn't seem to do a very good search. Searched for Turbo Tax software and only got one result for 2005. On Amazon's site there are at least 5 results.
- probegt93, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I bet this dude's making a bundle with all the click-throughs to Amazon!"
That is exactly what I though when I looked at the "go to Amazon" Link... - sorpigal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is cool and all (+digg) but it has been around for years. It is not news.
- webcrumb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"This is really, really, old news."
Yup, at least two years old. If not four. I was impressed when I first saw it, then I realised that XUL is essentially markup, and it was simply linking to the Amazon API. I submitted a feature request for search and preference persistence, but was shrugged off as it not being in design brief or scope or some other rubbish. After that I downloaded and edited the XUL myself to localise the searches (to .co.uk rather than .com). Strangely this feature appeared later. - sjetha, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I bet this dude's making a bundle with all the click-throughs to Amazon!
But this is amazing, I didn a double take on the whole open.. thing too. Usually when I see a Windows environment replicated in a browser, there are small details that show that it's just fancy CSS and not a real menu, but this is sweet!!
digg! :) - koap, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0now that's moving things in the right direction. Hopefully more to follow.
- riddlebox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Heres the good question, everyone looks at applications and goes "Ugly"...heres what i get from all of this..
People buy products because they look good, but imagine how much faster your computer would be if programs didn't use a lot of resource, like running Windows 98 on 3 Ghz processor, insanly fast. But we rather have good looking OS? - tenkenaid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0speaker291. Notice I said for 2005. I got a bunch of listings for tubotax too but only one for 2005.
- Netweb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0In the sriprit of a user can decide in milliseconds about a web page...
I had to double take on that one because I thought 'What the ... Is that open..."
It is a web page :-O - Great site - Great Digg - bob7, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow! It carries over my gnome themes!
- CaughtThinking, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"nice page, but wouldnt you just go to amazon and search from their site directly?"
haha, no, because now there's a markup language to define a display component to another markup language which is already a display... hm.
but wait, it's new(er)! - PradaPete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0who needs Ajax now? We just need to strive more market share for Firefox and just use XUL
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0it's very helpful!
- beejay54, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, now this is what we need to be moving to. Obviously it would need to be re-thought a little but I would love to see a day with this XUL style stuff was standard and you could actually make true web apps. Having access to some of those OS widgets in a 'works-everywhere' web app would just be sweet!
- Robotsu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Jasruler: for me it's not the application itself; I have no use for it. Really I enjoy this because I like to see the proliferation of the particular technologies behind the application :)
- speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I can't beleive that this story I posted has so many diggs.
You can find more XUL stuff by searching this:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=filetype%3Axul+xul
Also, i didnt know it used referrer urls... - MasterDwarf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0nice page, but wouldnt you just go to amazon and search from their site directly?
- Tweekster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0st3v:
good for him, that was a smart and honest move ( he is using some ingenuity to get people to click on his referrer instead of spamming) - dwclifton, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0See bloxor for a more recent XUL app.
http://loadaveragezero.com/app/drx/Internet/WWW/Clients/Browsers/Firefox#bloxor:aggregator - BitBurner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Awesome!!!
- raccettura, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is a good couple years old now.
Very cool, but very old. This could possibly pre-date Firefox, almost certainly the name. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Maybe I'm just slow today, but what's the big deal? Doesn't Amazon.com already do this? This is sort of like stealing ad-revenue as well since you're pulling their content and not seeing any of their ads either. I'm sure everyone here probably uses ad-blockers anyway, but you see where I'm going with this....
- osuadh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i guess i'm outta the loop but why would you use this instead of just searching on amazon.com? seems pointless to me...
- Nerevar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow it looks like an entire seperate program. It's cool something like this can be done all within firefox.
- anagoge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Impressive, but as others have said, why use this instead of searching Amazon ON Amazon?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0that's INSANE
- Ductapemaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Crazy....funny thing is it now has 1337 diggs!
- BassCadet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Maybe I'm just slow today, but what's the big deal? Doesn't Amazon.com already do this? "
Well sure, Amazon already does this. But Amazon is slow. It takes minutes to browse from one artist's book/CD to the next. And have you seen Amazon's layout lately? It is choked with extra BS that I do not care about. I do not want a server recommending music or literature to me. I do not care how many people bought this book or where it ranks in their sales charts. I do not care who "tagged" a DVD or what other DVD's they also tagged.
Amazon has been inflicted with Yahoo Disease™ - too much extraneous data, too little space. - ricercia, on 04/21/2008, -0/+0Very nice!
- spider418, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0PS Didn't mean to soound pessemistic. dug, for a cool XUL implementation.
- spider418, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This competes with Microsoft's XAML WinFX which is where MS will take the corporate world.
There is a lot of competition in the rich Internet app - RIA space. WinFX / Windows Presentation Foundation, Macromedia Flex, etc...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_user_interface_markup_languages
Actually all this pre-dates AJAX which I think Google used for multi-browser multi-platform support.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5621010-3.html?tag=st.num - speaker219, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sorry tenkenaid.
I only get one result too. -
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