XBEL, or the XML Bookmark Exchange Language, is an open XML

XML

Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....

 standard for sharing Internet URI

Uniform Resource Identifier

In computing, a uniform resource identifier is a string of characters used to identify a name or a resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network using specific protocols...

s, also known as bookmarks (or favorites in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

).

An example of XBEL use is the XBELicious application, which stores Del.icio.us

Del.icio.us

Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005, and by the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs...

 bookmarks in XBEL format. The Galeon

Galeon

Galeon is a web browser for GNOME based on Mozilla’s Gecko layout engine. Galeon’s self-declared mission was to deliver the web and only the web. Galeon was discontinued in September 2008....

, Konqueror

Konqueror

Not to be confused with the Conqueror web browser.Konqueror is a web browser and file manager that provides file-viewer functionality for file systems such as local files, files on a remote ftp server and files in a disk image. It is a core part of the KDE desktop environment...

, Arora

Arora (browser)

Arora is a free and open source lightweight cross-platform web browser. It runs on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, FreeBSD, OS/2, Haiku, and any other platforms supported by the Qt toolkit....

 and Midori

Midori (browser)

is a web browser that aims to be lightweight and fast. It uses the WebKit rendering engine and the GTK+ 2 interface. Midori is part of the Xfce desktop environment's Goodies component...

 web browsers use XBEL as the format for storing user bookmarks.

XBEL was created by the Python

Python (programming language)

Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

 XML Special Interest Group "to create an interesting, fun project which was both useful and would demonstrate the Python XML processing software which was being developed at the time".

It is also used by Nautiuls

Nautilus (file manager)

Nautilus is the official file manager for the GNOME desktop. The name is a play on words, evoking the shell of a nautilus to represent an operating system shell. Nautilus replaced Midnight Commander in GNOME 1.4 and was the default from version 2.0 onwards....

 and gedit

Gedit

gedit is a text editor for the GNOME desktop environment, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. Designed as a general purpose text editor, gedit emphasizes simplicity and ease of use...

 of the GNOME

GNOME

GNOME is a desktop environment and graphical user interface that runs on top of a computer operating system. It is composed entirely of free and open source software...

 desktop environment.

See also

• Internet bookmark
• XOXO (eXtensible Open XHTML Outlines)
  XOXO
  XOXO is an XML microformat for outlines built on top of XHTML. Developed by several authors as an attempt to reuse XHTML building blocks instead of inventing unnecessary new XML elements/attributes, XOXO is based on existing conventions for publishing outlines, lists, and blogrolls on the Web.The...
  
  , an XML microformat for outlines built on top of XHTML.
• OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language)
  OPML
  OPML is an XML format for outlines...
  
  , an XML format for outlines.

External links

• Official XBEL Site
• XBEL-Specs mailing list
• XBEL Resource Page on Sourceforge
• Python XML Special Interest Group
• XBView - Drupal
  Drupal
  Drupal is a free and open-source content management system and content management framework written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. It is used as a back-end system for at least 1.5% of all websites worldwide ranging from personal blogs to corporate, political, and...
  
   module to display bookmarks from XBEL
• Bookmark Sync and Sort - Firefox extension to synchronize bookmarks