Why Ajax Can be Useful For High Quality Web Applications

One thing that most people are looking for on the web these days is interactivity. The ability for companies to create web applications which are highly interactive will play a prominent role in their success over the web. In fact, the very nature of Ajax makes it useful for the construction of high end web applications. Ajax, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is an approach to web application design that differs from traditional methods. In the past, most developers had to use plug-ins and frames if they wanted their applications to work with prominent browsers. They were greatly limited in their ability to create interactive applications.

However, this was only a part of the problem. Not only were developers limited in their ability to create highly interactive web applications, they were not able to create an application that had the functionality and interactivity of a traditional desktop application. While the limitations of older web tools may not be easily noticeable to the average user, developers were very well aware of them. Understanding these limitations has been the key to their success when it comes to the introduction of Ajax.

Traditional Barriers to Ajax Applications

The page reload or refresh is testament to the limitations that were prevalent on the web before Ajax was introduced. It was a great barrier to usability, and developers were limited in their ability to correct the issue. Since the inception of the Internet, the goal of many developers has been to create web applications which are very interactive. In addition to being interactive, these applications should also be dynamic. When the user makes a change to the content on a web page, that change should be seen in near real time.

The user should not have to reload the page if they wish to see immediate changes in their actions. However, this is the way it was in the past, and it is still prominent among older websites today. However, the introduction of Ajax has changed everything. Rather than being a technology, Ajax is a technique that allows you to combine existing Java technologies in a way that allows you to bypass the page reload barrier. The fundamental concept behind Ajax is the fact that it uses client side scripting to transfer data to the web server.

Ajax Fundamentals

Not only will Ajax allow developers to create web applications with a great deal of interactivity, these programs will be so interactive that they can be likened to traditional desktop applications. Ajax is basically a pattern, a method of finding and utilizing a design technique that is efficient. While the concept of Ajax may not be new, it is new in the sense that many web developers have not yet taken advantage of it. One reason for Ajax’s sudden popularity is the fact that many popular applications such as Gmail utilize it.

The new Ajax applications are so powerful, so different from their contemporaries that many people have begin calling it a new technology altogether. These technologies have often been placed under the umbrella term which is known as Web 2.0. Since this time, Ajax has become a household name in many web development communities. Even then, its usage has not fully proliferated the web as a whole. There are a number of things which Ajax promises to create.

Ajax Tools and Applications

One of the things that Ajax can enhance are shopping carts. Since you don’t have to worry about reloading a page, a shopping cart designed with Ajax can be updated in real time. As soon as you add an item to it, this change in data will be shown automatically. One of the most important objects that has allowed Ajax to become so prominent is the XMLHttpRequest. It gives a client side script the ability to carry out requests for HTTP, and it will generate a response from the XML server. It is the interactive nature of Ajax that has allowed it to become so powerful.

There is a reason why “asynchronous” is used to describe Ajax. When an HTTP request is sent out, the user doesn’t want to wait for the browser to respond. You would much rather have it react to the direct interaction on the page.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!