FBML - Facebook
Markup Language
Joseph Scott
joseph@randomnetworks.com

FBML
Subset of HTML
br, div, h1, li, pre, span, etc
Facebook specific tags
fb:create-button, fb:dashboard, fb:error,
fb:message, fb:name, etc

FBML Extras
Forms will get hidden fields
fb_sig_profile, fb_sig_user,
fb_sig_session_key, fb_sig_time, fb_sig
src attribute of image tags will change
Facebook requests the image and points
the src to their own servers
CSS
Referencing external CSS not allowed
Every rule gets prefixed with appxxxxx_

Javascript
Hasn’t been allowed until very recently
FBJS, their no iframe answer
Prefixes variables, functions with axxxxxx_
Still beta, likely to change
Security is still unclear

Where To Use FBML
Applications that use the canvas
User profile
Mini-feed
News feed
Notifications
Others?

Canvas Applications
Easy native Facebook look for your
applications
Short cuts for various page components

Mini-feed Gotchas
Title is required, limited to 60 characters
Max of 1 a tag, fb:userlink and fb:name
Limited to 10 feed items per application,
rolling 48 hours
May or may not show up in friends News
feed
http://developers.facebook.com/
documentation.php?
v=1.0&method=feed.publishActionOfUser

News Feed Gotchas
Title is required, limited to 60 characters
1 a tag allowed, no others
Body limited to 200 characters
Allows a, b and i tags
Limited to 1 News feed item per user every
12 hours
http://developers.facebook.com/
documentation.php?
v=1.0&method=feed.publishStoryToUser

Resources
http://developers.facebook.com/
documentation.php?doc=fbml
http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/
http://www.facebook.com/board.php?
uid=2205007948
#facebook on irc.freenode.net