Since early 2011, Facebook have been starting the transition from FBML (Facebook Markup Language) to iFrame tabs. FBML was first introduced in 2007 alongside Facebook launching their Platform, giving developers easy access to Facebook features and widgets and more importantly, the user base.
It was announced this morning that Facebook will officially be deprecating FBML in favour of the new iFrame tabs. The move to iFrame tabs is very welcomed by developers for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, Tabs are now consistent with the way Canvas applications are built allowing a more streamlined (and ultimately more cost effective) development process.
Secondly, the iFrame tabs opens the gates allowing deeper personalisation while setting the foundations for building applications with newer technologies resulting in faster, more efficient applications.
The official word from Facebook is:
“We are deprecating FBML. On Jan 1, 2012: FBML will no longer be supported on Platform. June 1, 2012: FBML apps will no longer work. All FBML endpoints are removed. If you are building a new application on Facebook.com, please implement your application using HTML, JavaScript and CSS. You can use our JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins to embedded many of the same social features available in FBML.”
It’s also worth noting that the Platform will still have the same constraints (520px width for tabs and 760px for applications) - there will be no visual change to the Platform, just the underlying technologies that developers are building on.
Facebook have written a post in their developer blog outlining their deprecation roadmap:
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