Ajax Lesson 01

Today I will be blogging about AJAX. AJAX uses a number of old web technologies, but it has recently become a very hot topic. A number of cool web applications like Google Maps as well as new email services like Windows Live Mail Beta use AJAX. You may even have noticed it in our application when you create an invoice or use a coupon.

AJAX basically allows you to access information from another web address without actually visiting that web address. To me, it means real-time access to our databases. Although AJAX is a very useful technology, it does have a number of short-comings. Browser compatibility and usability are the top two on my list. I will be going into more details about the benefits and drawbacks of Ajax in my next post.

For the time being, here are a few useful links on AJAX. I have separated them into two categories:

For Designers and Web Fanatics:
Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications
Written by the man who coined the term AJAX, this article introduces the concept of AJAX. The diagrams in his article illustrate the concept of AJAX beautifully.

Wikipedia – AJAX
This article is an excellent resource outlining a lot of information about Ajax as well as a good overview of its history.

For Nerds:
Guide to Using AJAX and XMLHttpRequest from WebPasties
This is an excellent step-by-step tutorial on creating a basic AJAX application. I highly recommend it. Did I mention it comes with downloadable source code?

AJAX : A Basic Example and a Bookmarklet
This is another great AJAX tutorial to try once you have mastered the one above. This article goes into more detail about the core functions of AJAX.

Stay tuned for more.