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I thought I’d pull together some simple XUL examples you could load into XUL Explorer. It might help you get started using XUL Explorer. It may also help first-timers begin to see how XUL can be used to create a UI. Sometimes starting from scratch can be a hurdle.

A large part of my job at Mozilla is trying to make life easier for extension developers. In order to do my best, I need to understand the pains of extension developers. Up to now, I have been writing various types of extensions myself (sidebars, statusbars and components) to try to understand what an extension developer goes through. I even download extensions just to look at the code, trying to find comments like “hack” or “sucks”. But really, that’s not enough. So now I am asking extension developers directly:

I received a lot of feedback on XUL Explorer. It’s been a great learning experience for me as well. Here is a list of changes:

Starting to learn a new platform can be daunting. Especially, when it is as big as the Mozilla platform. The XUL tutorial and reference were exactly what I needed to start learning. However, I quickly found myself wanting to experiment with little XUL snippets just to see what they looked like at runtime. Or, I’d want to try applying some CSS to the elements. I decided to build a XULRunner application that provided a simple way to experiment with XUL. It also gave me a good hands-on project I could use to really start learning the platform.

If you’re new to Firefox extension or XULRunner programming, one of the first things you may want to do is find a good tutorial to help get a “hello world” project bootstrapped. Mozilla Developer Center (MDC) has more than a few to help you get started: Firefox Sidebar, Firefox Statusbar, XULRunner Application. We are working to get more on the way too.

I recently accepted a job offer from Mozilla Corporation. Today, I start working as an extension evangelist / consultant - helping extension developers be more successful, productive and happy.

Recent posts from Zach Lipton and Robert O’Callahan share a common theme: Give web applications better integration into the desktop.