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Yahoo! offers XForms tools
Sep. 14, 2008

[Updated, Sep. 14] -- Yahoo! announced a development platform aimed at helping developers create standalone XForms applications for Windows Mobile, Java, iPhone, and Symbian devices. The cross-platform "Blueprint 1.0" kit can also be used to create websites targeting mobile browsers, the company says.

Yahoo! describes the Blueprint language as a "versatile, standard XML syntax based on xForms [link]." It is said to offer "cutting-edge mobile features like location based services and mapping, along with powerful UI controls to design beautiful mobile experiences."


Developed using Blueprint, Yahoo! Go has a "carousel" interface (left) that allows access to widgets (middle, and right)
(Click any to enlarge)

Today's announcement is not Yahoo!'s first foray into the realm of browser-based application development. It previously released Yahoo! Go, a cross-platform application suite primarily intended to connect mobile devices to Yahoo! services. Pictured above, Yahoo! Go uses an extensible, widget-based architecture based on web standards such as XHTML and CSS, and is "easily extended" by third parties, says Yahoo!. For further details, see our earlier coverage here and here.

Now, Yahoo! has released a Blueprint 1.0 SDK that it says can be used to create mobile applications that do not necessarily require connectivity. A downloadable SDK (software development kit) includes XML schema definitions, templates, PHP helper classes, and sample code, Yahoo! says.


Yahoo!'s Blueprint architecture

Blueprint apps are touted as "standalone," and are said to appear as separate applications independent of the Yahoo! Go carousel. As the above architectural diagram suggests, some platforms -- Java, for example -- require a runtime to be installed on a device. For Windows Mobile, however, Internet Explorer, provides all the components needed, and no runtime is required, according to a Yahoo! spokeperson.

A "Yahoo! Blueprint Runtime for Mobile Apps" provides support for "many Java-enabled phones," primarily Symbian devices. Meanwhile, says Yahoo!, it "is using Blueprint internally to develop iPhone applications, and is in discussion with Apple on how to make Blueprint for the iPhone available to other developers."

Meanwhile, the company also offers a related "Yahoo! Blueprint Runtime for Mobile Sites," a PHP-based extension for Apache HTTP servers. Touted as providing web developers with "the right HTML or xHTML that looks best on your users' phones," the runtime creates a proxy layer that redirects HTTP requests from a third-party's server to Yahoo!'s. This allows sites to employ Yahoo!'s back end to interpret and render Blueprint markup, the company says.

Marco Boerries, executive vice president, Yahoo! Connected Life, said, "Developing applications for the fragmented mobile ecosystem is a Herculean effort that often results in developers creating an application that serves the least common denominator." He added that Yahoo! Blueprint allows developers to "write once and have mobile services run across a critical mass of devices and operating systems."

Further information

The initial Yahoo! Blueprint Runtime for Mobile Apps and Yahoo! Blueprint Runtime for Mobile Sites may be downloaded for free from the Yahoo! website, here.



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