Sebastopol, CA--In Jules Verne's novel, "Mysterious Island," Cyrus
Harding, engineer extraordinaire, fashioned nitroglycerine using
common, everyday materials: the fat of a dugong, sulpheret of iron,
vegetable cinders, and saltpeter. Unlike Mr. Harding, we don't always
recognize the usefulness of things we encounter on a regular basis.
Consider Mozilla. More than just a browser, Mozilla provides a
framework that allows developers to create cross-platform applications
by utilizing its accessible components, including JavaScript, CSS, and
Mozilla's XUL (XML-based user-interface Language), as well as the Gecko
rendering engine, XBL (eXtensible Binding Language), and XPCOM
(Mozilla's component model). O'Reilly's latest release,
Creating
Applications with Mozilla (David Boswell, Brian King, Ian Oeschger,
Pete Collins, and Eric Murphy, US $39.95), shows how innovative
applications--such as a text editor, chat client, or MP3 player--can be
created using a combination of easy-to-understand technologies.
"Creating Applications with Mozilla" introduces and explores Mozilla's
powerful cross-platform development framework, providing step-by-step
instructions for creating applications. The first several chapters
serve as an introduction to the Mozilla development environment and
impart the knowledge necessary to quickly learn to create simple
programs. The authors then branch into topics on modular development
and other advanced subjects. The book provides the information to help
readers:
- Understand how the basic Mozilla development framework technologies
work together
- Learn to use the elements and features of XUL to build applications
- Add functionality to an application with JavaScript
- Create the look and feel of an application using CSS
- Package and install an application for distribution
- Extend the basic Mozilla framework with XBL, XPCOM, XUL templates, and
RDF
- Make applications accessible by localizing them into different
languages
- Develop remote applications to be served via the Web or another server
"Our book is unique because it covers more topics and is more
up-to-date than any other books out about Mozilla or XUL," explains
coauthor David Boswell. "Many of the other books are out of date
because they were written at a time before Mozilla had matured to a
point where it was stable enough to be released as version 1.0. Also,
most of the books out have focused on XUL, the extensible
user-interface language, and have ignored several of the other
components in Mozilla that make it a powerful application."
"Creating Applications with Mozilla" was written primarily for
programmers and would-be programmers interested in exploring this new
platform--the Mozilla development framework. But, as the authors
explain, there is no need to be a professional programmer to build
cross-platform Mozilla-based applications: one of the great advantages
to developing Mozilla-based applications is that the learning curve
isn't as steep as most alternatives. A basic understanding of a few
technologies--JavaScript, CSS, HTML, and XML--will do to get started.
And with this book in hand, developers will be well on their way.
Additional resources:
Creating Applications with Mozilla
David Boswell, Brian King, Ian Oeschger, Pete Collins, & Eric Murphy
ISBN 0-596-00052-9, 454 pages, $39.95 (US), $61.95 (CAN)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938; 1-707-827-7000
About O'Reilly
O'Reilly & Associates is the premier information source for
leading-edge computer technologies. The company's books, conferences,
and web sites bring to light the knowledge of technology innovators.
O'Reilly books, known for the animals on their covers, occupy a
treasured place on the shelves of the developers building the next
generation of software. O'Reilly conferences and summits bring alpha
geeks and forward-thinking business leaders together to shape the
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