Building rich, encapsulated widgets

Web 2.0 is pushing the boundaries of the user interface (UI), but at the same time users are expecting more. This means that web applications that people interact with must strive to represent data in as imaginative and intuitive way as possible. This can both reduce the amount of time spent on tasks, as well as reduce input errors.

Traditional browser technologies have generally provided only scripting as a means to produce such UIs, and there has rarely been a way to encapsulate these interfaces for re-use. However, using XBL as the binding language and XForms and SVG for the functionality, it is now possible to build rich widgets that are completely encapsulated, and so
reusable.

In addition, by building the widgets using XForms to provide the functionality, we get two major benefits: first, since XForms is accessible, the resulting widget combinations are also accessible; and second, XForms' ability to easily manage web services means that widgets can communicate for data themselves, making it easy to produce 'smart'
widgets.