Programming Firefox: Building Rich Internet Applications with XUL (Programming)

Description

Programming Firefox: Building Rich Internet Applications with XUL (Programming)

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Number Of Pages: 511
Publication Date: 2007-04-25
Sales Rank: 158108
ISBN / ASIN: 0596102437
EAN: 9780596102432
Binding: Paperback
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Studio: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Average Rating: 2.5

This is your guide to building Internet applications and user interfaces with the Mozilla component framework, which is best known for the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client. Programming Firefox demonstrates how to use the XML User Interface Language (XUL) with open source tools in the framework's Cross-Platform Component (XPCOM) library to develop a variety of projects, such as commercial web applications and Firefox extensions.

This book serves as both a programmer's reference and an in-depth tutorial, so not only do you get a comprehensive look at XUL's capabilities--from simple interface design to complex, multitier applications with real-time operations--but you also learn how to build a complete working application with XUL. If you're coming from a Java or .NET environment, you'll be amazed at how quickly large-scale applications can be constructed with XPCOM and XUL.

Topics in Programming Firefox include:

An overview of Firefox technology
An introduction to the graphical elements that compose a XUL application
Firefox development tools and the process used to design and build applications
Managing an application with multiple content areas
Introduction to Resource Description Files, and how the Firefox interface renders RDF
Manipulating XHTML with JavaScript
Displaying documents using the Scalable Vector Graphics standard and HTML Canvas
The XML Binding Language and interface overlays to extend Firefox
Implementing the next-generation forms interface through XForms
Programming Firefox is ideal for the designer or developer charged with delivering innovative standards-based Internet applications, whether they're web server applications or Internet-enabled desktop applications. It's not just a how-to book, but a what-if exploration that encourages you to push the envelope of the Internet experience.

Review:

I expect quality from O'Reilly

Well well... I bought this book a month ago to develop a Firefox extension for work. I must say it's a terrible book. There's no pedagogy, and the content is VERY incomplete.
It deals mostly with XUL widget programming. it will teach you how to set the developer environment, how to interfere with the user, how to deploy THAT'S IT. poor examples, bad coding practices... I spent 60 box for this useless book...

Review:

Not bad but not comprehensive either

Back in 2005, I've read "Rapid Application Development with Mozilla" by Nigel McFarlane - pretty big and comprehensive (I think) book about Mozilla platform. I'm not a web developer but I always try to keep up with the latest developments in the industry, so I was looking for a book which covers Firefox peculiarities. That was my primary motivation for buying "Programming Firefox" by Kenneth C. Feldt.

The book itself was a bit disappointment: it was not as comprehensive as I expected it to be (honestly, I thought it would be both comprehensive and slim - probably I was just asking for too much). The author employ "learning by doing" approach - in the first half of the book he develops a XUL application and explains things required to build it. Although this approach works really well for the magazines where you are limited in space, when you read a book you expect more general discussion which is applied to the specific subject only at the very latest step. If you are trying to explain everything using only one (or very few) program(s) as a test base you will necessarily limit the discussion to topics relevant to that problem - which is again okay for the magazine but not for the textbook. The most notable omissions from the book in this sense are: whole XPCOM framework (several interfaces and the way to create the components via XPConnect are mentioned briefly but it does not go any further solving problems relevant for the example application); keys, keysets and commands (nothing was said about it), Mozilla-specific CSS attributes (-moz-appearance is mentioned briefly), complicated layouts (deck, stack and the friends). I would also prefer to see brief introduction to JavaScript.

A strong part of the book is that it's not limited to XUL/XBL - SVG, XForms and canvas tag are also mentioned. Unfortunately (and again), only XForms are covered throughly - when it comes to SVG you see small subset of features required to build bar diagram.

As mentioned in the previous review, code is formatted badly (and actually I can object some of the techniques employed therein) - but I don't think its a big drawback of the book. The worse thing is that there is too much code - not only snippets, but the whole programs. They take up precious place ans are hard to read from the paper anyway.

In the conclusion, it's not a brilliant book on the subject. Given the absence of the modern books on XUL programming and its relatively small size in terms of pages, I recommend you buy it if you want to get a taste of Firefox development, but if you need an old-school textbook, better opt for "Rapid development..." or whatever. I'm giving it four-stars anyway - there is no point for being too strict to the author and the publisher who are willing to promote good under-documented technology.

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