User interface markup language

An user interface markup language is a markup language (often XML) used to define user interfaces.

There were several well-known XML user interface markup languages: UIML (developed by OASIS), XUL (developed by Mozilla), MXML (develoeped by Macromedia), GladeXML (developed by GNOME) and XAML (developed by Microsoft).

Introduction

UIML is the earliest pioneer in user interface markup languages. It is an open standard where implementation is not restricted to a single vendor. However, it doesn't attract much attention.

XUL is the markup language developed to support the Mozilla browser itself. XUL documents, like HTML documents, are rendered by the Gecko engine. It cooperates with many existing standards and technologies, including CSS, JavaScript, DTD and RDF, which makes it relatively easy to learn for people with background of web programming and design.

Other markup languages, however, are compiled into binary forms. They are inoperated into existing frameworks, e.g. Flash, GTK and .NET Framework.

XAML, strictly speaking, is not just an user interface markup language, but an application markup language , as the program logic and styles are also embedded in the XAML document. Functionally, it can be seen as a combination of XUL, SVG, CSS, and JavaScript into a single XML schema. Some people are critical of this design, as many standards (such as those already listed) exist for doing these things, but XAML reinvents the wheel in many places, which will require significant retraining for developers wishing to use the platform. However, it is expected to be developed with a visual tool where developers do not even need to understand the underlying markups.

User interface markup language

Introduction

See also