Or they are dead now?
What is the next alternative for facebook tabs?
I want a HTML/PHP page using FMBL on my facebook page, but I am not sure if it is still possible.
FBML is deprecated, the "Static FBML" App is not available anymore.
You could try this now: https://www.facebook.com/staticHTML
I did not test it though, and the best way to create tabs is to create an app on your own:
https://developers.facebook.com/apps
It´s not really hard to do, tabs are just iframes and you can program the pages like a real website. Just keep in mind that you need a server with SSL for canvas apps and tab apps.
Related
Built a pretty cool reveal application. And i set the application tab as my Default Landing Tab. It seems like Facebook is ignoring that and using my wall as the default page. I know for a fact that this was working and it just stopped recently... Did Facebook make a change again? Is this a bug?
the page is
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Web-Inspired-Inc/195395460536233?sk=app_281819945171158
If you are the page admin or if you have already liked the page, it will always default to the Wall.
Try "unliking" your page. The default tab is only the default for people who haven't liked you.
Edit: Unliking the page won't have any effect if you're an admin. I have a 'fake' FB account that I use to test things in my apps. Not strictly compliant with their TOS, probably, but it's the best way I know of to really see how normal users see your apps and pages.
I have lots of Facebook Fanpages, and I have been told on many occasions to change to iFrames. Facebook developing isn't really my main thing so I havent kept upto date with the change as FBML worked for me.
I have asked a recent question about rotating images and it seems that iFrames will be able to handle this.
Can you tell me what are the good things about iFrames?
Is there an iFrame service without thirdpart branding (i.e WildFire logo at the bottom of page)
Thanks for your help
You should be switching as soon as possible from fbml fan pages to iframe fan page because the FBML pages have been deprecated (you can't create new fbml pages) and it is likely Facebook will start killing FBML page support for existing pages, with little to no notice.
The biggest benefits are almost all javascript code will run now and without making a user first click somewhere. Laying out pages is a lot cleaner. And you don't have to learn the fbml tags. You just make a web page like you normally would and it should run just fine, as long as you understand that iframe code is sandboxed due to cross domain limitations so you can't try to modify its parent (the Facebook page)
I don't know of any iFrame services, but iFrame pages are so simple - you just host a plain html file or webpage somewhere on a server anywhere and tell Facebook the url for it. Do note though that the site it is hosted on should have an SSL certificate for users that visit your page with HTTPS enabled on their Facebook account.
I realize there is already a similar question, but there aren't any good answers.
I looked all around the facebook developer app, and there isn't an automated way to do this.
Please help!
If your app is an iframe app, fbml will NOT be parsed by facebook. So you can't use fbml in an iframe app. The only thing you can use in iframe apps is the XFMBL or serverfbml version which only supports a little subset of the fbml tags.
See here and here for more details on xfbml and which tags are supported (fb:tabs is NOT)
So I would rather use jquery UI tabs or something similar and customize it to have the facebook look'n'feel if I wanted tabs in my application :)
I think the problem might be that you cannot use the legacy FBML anymore for new apps. At least that is what I am told.
You might check this developer page and see if the rabbit hole opens up any more for you.
Okey, so I have a business Facebook Page like many others. And I want to customize it like many others have. But Facebook (henceforth FB) documentation is really bad.
So I go and edit my page and there I find Facebook Static FBML application. So far, great, and I can even use standard HTML to edit it. And then there is also FBML which I can use to make more advanced customization, like show something for people who "Like" and something else for others. Pretty straightforward. But then i notice that Facebook is deprecating FBML and recommend me to use JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins.
So what does this mean for me? Can I customize my site this way or not?
The documentation for JavaScript SDK and Social Plugins is worthless and very general, how do these apply for my Page customization?
But Facebook Static FBML application it self is an application i guess. Will it work in the future?
What is the best way to customize my FB Page and add tabs and so on?
What should I do?
ANSWER (for lazy people):
While Facebook Static FBML application might be working in the near future, it seems like building applications yourself is the right way to go.
Build an application: http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php
Also you do not need the FBML since you can do all that is needed with the graph-api.
Graph-API doc: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/api
Also, by using the iframe canvas when building apps this allows you to host your page tabs where ever you want allowing you do use any coding language you want.
I'm not sure why but creating any kind of integration beyond the use of social widgets and buttons on external sites always confuses me.
What I need to do is create a tab on a particular Fan Page. This tab needs to:
Contain an interface for casting a vote in a Poll.
Handle multiple Polls. Only one will be featured in the tab at a time, but there should be an interface for navigating to previous polls.
All polling data needs to be stored on my servers - 3rd party Polling solutions (facebook apps, or embedable services) are not an option unless the data storage location is configurable.
All those requirements are pretty easy to address. Im just confused about how to integrate with FB.
Do i need full FB App for this, or is there another way? This will only be accessible via the Fan Page tab, so I don't necessarily need an App at apps.facebook.com.
If it is an app... is there a way to hide the app page, and the standalone app canvas from everyone except Fan Page admins?
FBML will be discountinue very soon. You might need to find an alternative way to do it. :-)
Check out the Static FBML app that Facebook provides. You can implement it on any Facebook fan page, change the tab title, and specify the content in HTML/FBML (with some limitations, I believe IFRAMES, password inputs, and some other random things are not allowed, but don't take my word on these until you test them). Hopefully this at least gives you a little head start.
Even Tradablebits platform is an option. They give a good functionality and make it simpler to work with Facebook. http://apps.tradablebits.com/ I analyzed this platform for one of my apps.