Determining the behaviour of an application at run-time using parameters is a well-established practice. But whilst it's possible with command-line and server-side applications, the scope for passing information to client-side internet applications is limited. With the growth in internet-facing desktop applications, widgets and gadgets, there is a need to pass parameters directly to the application, rather than via a server, and this post looks at how that might be achieved.

The Ubiquity library provides a range of open source components--from Ajax libraries to browser extensions--that work together to deliver a fresh approach to web application building.

The video of Mark Birbeck's Google Tech Talk, in May 2008, All The Information In The World, The Way You Want It, is on YouTube.

This presentation by Mark Birbeck was given at the Kings of Code conference.

Ian Forrester interviewed Mark Birbeck whilst they were both at XTech 2008. Subjects mentioned range from XForms, Ajax, Sidewinder, ODF, unobtrusive JavaScript, XUL, standards adoption, New Labour, Hegel's idealism, the Ajax Community, and the Ubiquity XForms processor.

XForms is a mark-up language from the W3C for describing all kinds of interactive user interfaces, from simple name and address forms to shopping-carts, through to long and detailed forms (such as mortgage and life insurance applications) to desktop applications.

The team at webBackplane has expertise and experience in XForms that is unparalleled.

This presentation by Mark Birbeck was part of the Reinventing the Mobile Browsing Experience Through Ajax industry panel, held at WWW2007.