celebritarian

XAR is an “easily extensible archive format”. I didn’t know about XAR until recently. I discovered it when examining a Safari 5 extension.

I assumed Safari extensions were simple bundles — like apps or widgets. So, removing the file extension .safariextz would turn an extension into a simple OS X folder — at least, so I thought.

Turned out I was wrong. So, I typed the file command in the Terminal and found out it was some kind of archive format. So. That’s how I first got to know about XAR.

Anyway. XAR. Apple uses it (which automatically makes me interested in the technology at hand…) Why? Probably because it’s structured. The content is basically described by a simple XML file. (Or by a property list — plist — in Apple’s extension case.)

I think the idea behind Safari 5’s extension architecture is way less-geeky than Chrome’s equivalent. Also, it’s more beautifully executed. Now, onto next task: Coming up with an idea of a Safari extension.