What is AJAX?

January 10, 2006

AJAX enables richer online user interfaces.

When we use desktop packages, like Word or Excel, we can drag, drop, click, sort, and so forth - all without having to wait around for your screen to reload. AJAX brings this sort of functionality to the web.

AJAX is a term used to describe a combination of four key elements:

  • Javascript - for the programming
  • CSS - for the style/layout
  • DOM - for the page elements that Javascript will change
  • XMLHttpRequest object - for retrieving data from the server behind the scenes without refreshing the page

A few years ago, DHTML was all the rage - it combined the first three of those AJAX elements. It enabled rich user interfaces, but the problem was that you still had to refresh the page each time you changed something significant.

Examples

Footnotes: I have a number of tech skills I want to develop this year - two of them are AJAX and Ruby on Rails.
To help get me going, I’m taking notes and my writing up my thoughts on the topic while reading this book:

Ajax in Action
See also
Comments

  1. check out foo’s site. he’s not too shabby at all with ajax and cf

    — Dave, January 10, 2006

  2. oops… the url is: http://www.forgetfoo.com

    cheers

    — Dave, January 10, 2006

  3. Even the the term AJAX has been around for almost a year now, whenever I wash my dishes and I can’t help to laugh that I am using Ajax.

    - Ajaxian, http://www.ajaxian.com/, is a pretty good blog about all things AJAX
    - Ajax Patterns, http://ajaxpatterns.org, is a wiki site with loads of info

    I know the Apple Dev center and XML.com also had some resources for begginers, but I have since lost their URL’s… Good luck!

    — John Labriola, January 11, 2006

  4. Thanks Dave and John - I’m checking out those blogs right now :)

    — Rachel, January 11, 2006

  5. I have been visiting the blog of Foo. It is not only looking great, it s a pleasure to read.

    — redstar, January 12, 2006

  6. Do you know what app I am loving the use of Ajax? Remember The Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com/). Take it for a run. Aside from a little divitis, the coding isn’t too unstandards friendly either.

    — John Labriola, January 13, 2006

  7. Hehe, John, it’s on my fave sites I discovered in 2005 list :D I love it!

    — Rachel, January 13, 2006

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