Do your find Facebook Markup Language (FBML) quite frustrating? Well, then you have a reason to cheer. This is because the ever evolving Facebook has introduced the new iFrame technology to customize Facebook Business Pages. It means the annoying FBML is being deprecated. From March this year, you will no longer be able to add a FBML tab to your Facebook page. However, existing FBML tabs will still work. Certain codes will do away with FBML.

Many users depend on a Facebook app called staticFBML to create custom tabs, such as “Welcome” or “Products” that you see on many Fan pages. StaticFBML enabled those with less technical proficiency in HMTL and CSS to build such tabs. The change from FBML to iframes means Fan page owners must learn how to develop tabs using iframes, or rely on third-party tab-creation service providers.

ha The use of iframes is not a new technology. It was introduced by Microsoft Internet Explorer as early as 1997, according to the iframes entry in Wikipedia.

Facebook had been toying with the idea of shifting the technical integration of the tabs displayed on a Facebook business page. Now what does this mean? Any organization which wants to have an advanced level of interaction with customers on Facebook, apart from the chatter of the Wall, Facebook tabs are an important tool. Various companies like Coca-cola and Levis, have leveraged the power of this medium substantially.

However, until recently Facebook application developers have not been able to use the full range of tools available to them in any other Web application. It used to be you had to code page tabs in FBML — a Facebook markup language derived from HTML — and could use only Facebook-approved JavaScript and AJAX commands.

These limitations went away in February, with the introduction of support for HTML IFrames (inline frames) as the display technology for page tabs. If reports are to be believed, Facebook is phasing out support for new FBML apps and page tabs (although existing ones continue to function) in favor of its newer XFBML and JavaScript developer’s kit, which works in both Facebook IFames and independent Web pages.

It means you can use any Web page as the source for your page tab content. Just plug the URL into Facebook’s app registration form, put in the text you want to appear on the tab label, and add it to your page.

Aside from the width of the tab content, which must be under 520 pixels to display properly, there are few if any technical limits on what content can appear in that spot – use any JavaScript library, use Flash, use Silverlight – all sorts of things that used to be off limits.

“iFrame” allows a web page hosted on one server to be embedded (or “framed”) into a web page of another. For Facebook purposes, this means a custom tab will not reside on Facebook’s servers. It will be hosted elsewhere, then embedded into a tab using iframes.

The use of iframes means that page administrators will have to set up a Facebook app each time a new custom tab is created. Formerly, Facebook apps were created with Canvas Pages, which were blank “canvas” screens onto which HTML, JavaScript and CSS were loaded. Now, Facebook has mandated app creation for tabbed pages, as well. The result is a greater unification in the way Facebook’s Platform works, which was presumably another reason for the switch.

iFrame technology offers a number of advantages over FBML. Because pages will no longer be served from the network’s own servers, the constraints imposed by Facebook’s platform will go away. This means greater flexibility in terms of the types of scripting languages that can be used and deeper integration between the merchant’s website and Facebook page.

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