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XUL is/was the language for the entire Mozilla app UI. So it's not like they invented it specifically for third parties to use- or even with them in mind.

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XUL is only used for the external chrome interface of the Firefox desktop browser, let's be clear not to commingle the technology used to build the UI of Firefox with the standards-based technologies that power web apps/pages ;)

No, but it is entirely possible to build desktop-installable apps using the Firefox internals, with XUL as the primary interface technology. This was the idea behind XULRunner, a Firefox runtime package for you to build your apps with.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/XULRunner

The XML-based XUL isn't terrible, either, considering the respectable set of widgets and the ability to control all the styles with CSS. The nasty part, in my experience, was trying to get through the messy FFI that was XPCOM.

Check out Pencil (mockup app) http://pencil.evolus.vn/ for an example of multi-platform desktop app based on XULRunner.

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