http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Web-Design/Ajax A listing of the most recently indexed works about Articles and Web Design and Ajax in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Articles/Web-Design/Ajax http://tc.eserver.org/35070.html http://tc.eserver.org/35070.html Today i want to introduce you to jSON (JavaScript Object Notation), in short, it is a simple format designed to exchange data between different programming languages. I will show you how to create JavaScript object, convert it to JSON string, and send to PHP script, which will decode jSON string to readable format (for PHP). But that’s not all, PHP script will create it’s own data object encode it to jSON string and send it back. All communication between JavaScript and PHP will be done thru AJAX. http://tc.eserver.org/35072.html http://tc.eserver.org/35072.html Ajax is only a name given to a set of tools that were previously existing. The main part is XMLHttpRequest, a server-side object usable in JavaScript, that was implemented into Internet Explorer since the 4.0 version. http://tc.eserver.org/35073.html http://tc.eserver.org/35073.html Unfortunately, Firefox doesn't allow cross-domain XMLHttpRequests for security reasons. While good security is a plus, this restriction can make development and testing a real chore. For those of us willing to risk the security vulnerability, here is how to bypass the cross-domain restriction once and for all. http://tc.eserver.org/35074.html http://tc.eserver.org/35074.html Since my last AJAX project I've increasingly been wondering about the "ideal" output format for the AJAX response. Once you've succesfully fired an AJAX request, what sort of response should the server give? An XML document? An HTML snippet? A JSON string which is converted to a JavaScript object? Or something else? In this entry I'd like to discuss the three formats, with examples, and ask you which format you've used in your practical AJAX applications. http://tc.eserver.org/33994.html http://tc.eserver.org/33994.html JSON is a lightweight, language independent format for data interchange. It is especially popular in Ajax (or interactive web browser-based) applications. http://tc.eserver.org/33853.html http://tc.eserver.org/33853.html Yes, if you do it right, using Ajax techniques can improve accessibility. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Ajax is like most techniques and technologies on the web—they are what you make of them. http://tc.eserver.org/33868.html http://tc.eserver.org/33868.html JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is what all the hip applications are serving up these days with their API’s as an alternative to XML. The cool part about JSON is that you don’t need to parse it in the same way you do XML. That data you get from a JSON call comes back as an object all ready-to-rock and let you do stuff with it. So here's the jQuery code to pull in and append all data from Flickr, Twitter, and Scrnshots all onto one page. http://tc.eserver.org/33384.html http://tc.eserver.org/33384.html AJAX enables faster, more responsive Web applications through a combination of asynchronous Javascript, the Document Object Model (DOM), and XMLhttpRequest. What this means for Web interface designers is that a DHTML-based Web application can make quick, incremental updates to a user interface without reloading the entire screen. http://tc.eserver.org/33388.html http://tc.eserver.org/33388.html In the past few years, developers could choose between two approaches when building a web application. The first approach was to create a screen-based system with very rich interactions using a sophisticated, powerful technology such as Java or Flash. The alternative approach was to create a page-based system using easier-to-learn core web standards like XHTML and CSS whose more basic capabilities force less-rich interactions. A new technological approach, dubbed Ajax, might just be the right mix between the two. http://tc.eserver.org/32705.html http://tc.eserver.org/32705.html People love Ajax applications so much that they are willing to use them instead of their desktop equivalents. The only problem occurs when they fail to have network access. This is when an offline feature is necessary. Apache Derby is a great option for enabling offline access to Ajax-powered applications. Learn how to use Apache Derby as a local data store that can be used to take your Ajax application offline. http://tc.eserver.org/32672.html http://tc.eserver.org/32672.html Making use of the overflow and scrollLeft DOM property to scroll elements is a much more effective use of the CPU, over animating using CSS top/left. So this episode of J4D demonstrates the same effect used in two completely different ways. http://tc.eserver.org/32673.html http://tc.eserver.org/32673.html This episode is revisiting the image cross fade effect, in particular Dragon Interactive has a beautiful little transition for their navigation that some readers have been requesting. Greg Johnson takes it one step further to implement this method using jQuery and the methods shown here. http://tc.eserver.org/32628.html http://tc.eserver.org/32628.html This paper covers the main stumbling-blocks you're likely to come across with AJAX: instantiating the necessary JavaScript object, building the request, and using the response. http://tc.eserver.org/32553.html http://tc.eserver.org/32553.html I will go through how to make a full-blown widget that uses AJAX technology. It fetches news from a newsfeed source, presents them nicely to you, includes some eyecandy and of course lets you customize the amount of news items, refresh time and which category of news you want to be shown. http://tc.eserver.org/32527.html http://tc.eserver.org/32527.html We got things like browser wars, browser-specific DHTML, and table-based layouts. These were things that got in the way of the original vision, because people wanted rich content when the technology wasn’t ready. And now it’s happening again. http://tc.eserver.org/32472.html http://tc.eserver.org/32472.html While exploring the options for traversing JSON, I discovered that there is no official W3C documentation, or even a draft. As a subset of the ECMAScript language specification, it will probably remain under the governance of ECMA International. So unlike XPath, which is a commonly accepted language for traversing XML, JSON must rely on JavaScript’s object notation. http://tc.eserver.org/32475.html http://tc.eserver.org/32475.html In releasing jQuery v.1.2, a decision was made by the development team to drop XPath support from the core. Instead, an officially released XPath jQuery plugin is now available, which provides deprecated functionality. Although initially disappointed by this decision, I was happy to discover that alternative methods for obtaining data from an XML file are still available without the plugin. http://tc.eserver.org/32390.html http://tc.eserver.org/32390.html Today I’d like to start an article series of three parts, the result of which will be a popout-style, jQuery-based box like the one pictured above, which I think strikes a nice balance on the obtrusion-scale. http://tc.eserver.org/32391.html http://tc.eserver.org/32391.html We're going to take the ad we built last week and animate it, as well as provide the user with a means to open and close the ad. We’ll be using jQuery for most of what we do, so you’ll need to include the jQuery library script at the top of your document for this to work (see the source of the example page to see how this is done). http://tc.eserver.org/32392.html http://tc.eserver.org/32392.html Generating footnotes for HTML documents in the past was always a slow, painful task — and every time I did it, I wondered why there wasn’t a better, easier way. Today, I’m happy to announce that I’ve come up with a better solution to web footnotes using the jQuery JavaScript framework and a few tags and attributes that already exist in XHTML. http://tc.eserver.org/32242.html http://tc.eserver.org/32242.html Learn the process of writing Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) applications using native JavaScript™ code and PHP. This article introduces a few different frameworks and application program interfaces (APIs) that reduce the amount of code you need to write to achieve a complete Ajax-based Web application. http://tc.eserver.org/32129.html http://tc.eserver.org/32129.html The article shows how an AJAX call can be made to a resource on the SQL Anywhere Server using stored procedures and web services. http://tc.eserver.org/32069.html http://tc.eserver.org/32069.html So we’re in the middle of Web 2.0, the first real movement in web development since it’s interception. New technologies, most notably AJAX and the enhanced knowledge and usage of CSS, has allowed for amazing, innovative websites that would have never been created in the not so distant past. http://tc.eserver.org/32005.html http://tc.eserver.org/32005.html The basic and prebuilt effects in script.aculo.us are nice, but if you really want to build something great why not investigate doing your own, homegrown, do-it-yourself effects. We’re going to show you how to take basic effects and build on them to create your own. So let’s get going. http://tc.eserver.org/32006.html http://tc.eserver.org/32006.html Slicken up your web apps with these tips and tricks using the Yahoo! User Interface library. http://tc.eserver.org/32003.html http://tc.eserver.org/32003.html To most, the virtues of Web 2.0 are rather ephemeral; that’s always been one of its main criticisms. However, I like to think that one of the movement’s key aspects is a sense of community, an ability to create sites and applications that bring people together. http://tc.eserver.org/32004.html http://tc.eserver.org/32004.html Asynchronous or remote scripting has been lurking in the background of web app development for quite some time now. Originally dependent on proprietary technology like Java applets, ActiveX and Flash or clever combinations of disparate technologies like images and cookies, native support for the XMLHttpRequest (XHR) object in modern browsers has made it easier than ever to make web apps more responsive and more like their desktop counterparts. This lower barrier to entry also makes it easier to make poor decisions and inappropriate use of a powerful technology. http://tc.eserver.org/31637.html http://tc.eserver.org/31637.html Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) continues to raise user expectations for interactivity and performance, and developers are increasingly treating Ajax as a must-have component of their Web applications. As more code is moved client side and the network model changes, the community is responding by building more tools to address the unique performance challenges of Ajax. Examine toolsets that find and correct performance problems within your Ajax-enriched applications. http://tc.eserver.org/31638.html http://tc.eserver.org/31638.html Wasting server resources can impact the performance of Ajax applications, resulting in excessive HTTP requests, high memory consumption, and the need for an unusual amount of polling to make applications work. Regular developerWorks author Judith Myerson suggests some open source tools and Firefox add-ons you can use to improve or solve problems with your Ajax applications. http://tc.eserver.org/31104.html http://tc.eserver.org/31104.html Any programming problem can be solved in multiple right ways. This series looks at four approaches for creating an Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) weather badge, a small reusable widget that's easily embedded on any Web page. This first article lays the foundation and examines the first approach--walking the DOM tree. http://tc.eserver.org/30828.html http://tc.eserver.org/30828.html AJAX, rich Internet UIs, mashups, communities, and user-generated content often add more complexity than they're worth. They also divert design resources and prove (once again) that what's hyped is rarely what's most profitable. http://tc.eserver.org/30806.html http://tc.eserver.org/30806.html Converting an Atom document to JSON might, at first, appear to be a fairly straightforward task. Atom is, after all, just a bit of XML and XML-to-JSON conversion tools are widely available. However, the Atom format is more than just a set of XML elements and attributes. A number of subtle details can make proper handling of Atom difficult. This article describes those issues and demonstrates a mechanism implemented by the Apache Abdera project to convert Atom documents into JSON and produces a result that is readable, usable, and complete. http://tc.eserver.org/30674.html http://tc.eserver.org/30674.html JSON is an easy format to use for sending (and receiving) data that maps to objects, or even arrays of objects. In this final article of the series, you'll learn how to handle data sent to a server in the JSON format and how to reply to scripts using the same format. http://tc.eserver.org/30680.html http://tc.eserver.org/30680.html Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript + XML) programming techniques are increasingly dominating the world of Web application development. New developers are stepping into the world of Ajax development every day, and they come from disparate development backgrounds. Part 1 of this multipart series gives you a cheat sheet of Ajax development resources from an expert team of Ajax developers at IBM(R). The authors draw from their own ramp-up experiences to help you with practical information that will put you on a fast track to effective Ajax development. http://tc.eserver.org/30659.html http://tc.eserver.org/30659.html Learn to build a chat system into your Web application with Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (Ajax) and PHP. Your customers can talk to you and to each other about the content of the site without having to download or install any special instant-messaging software. http://tc.eserver.org/30661.html http://tc.eserver.org/30661.html Where possible, creating Web applications -- including Ajax-based applications -- in a RESTful way avoids a large class of bugs. However, a pitfall of REST (REpresentational State Transfer) is sending duplicate data across similar XMLHttpRequests. This tip shows how the moderate use of session cookies can maintain just enough server-side state to significantly reduce client-server traffic, while still allowing fallback to cookie-free operation. http://tc.eserver.org/30665.html http://tc.eserver.org/30665.html With Ajax still one of the industry's hottest buzzwords, more and more applications are being built with Ajax technologies. However, it's not always easy to build a good application. This article focuses on how to build intuitive, easy-to-use Ajax-driven applications. http://tc.eserver.org/30656.html http://tc.eserver.org/30656.html In this article, the authors put your newly gained knowledge into practice by starting the development of a simple Dojo and Atom-based blog reader. http://tc.eserver.org/30664.html http://tc.eserver.org/30664.html Developers and users have much higher expectations for the usability and responsiveness of Web-based applications in the Web 2.0 era. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two years, you've likely heard of Asynchronous JavaScript + XML (the Ajax technique). Ajax allows you to build slick, responsive, and highly dynamic browser-based user interfaces without requiring browser page reloads. This article takes a look at AjaxTags, a Java/JavaScript Library that lets you easily integrate Ajax functionality into your JSP pages. http://tc.eserver.org/30658.html http://tc.eserver.org/30658.html It takes some finesse to make the best use of asynchronous callbacks for Ajax data sources in JavaScript applications. This tip discusses why you should use asynchronous callbacks for Ajax data sources and gives examples of coordinating the readiness of mutually dependent application data sources that may become ready at undefined times with asynchronous calls. http://tc.eserver.org/30662.html http://tc.eserver.org/30662.html Wouldn't it be nice for developers if all browsers, computer models, and Ajax application users were the same? Maybe, but the reality is that they are not. Developers face a myriad of challenges when developing applications that behave predictably across browsers, computers, and individual user settings. When users transfer Ajax applications from one browser type to another (and especially when they transfer an Ajax application into a Web service portal), they're not guaranteed the same browser experience because of each browser's inherent limitations. In this article, author Judith Myerson gives a brief discussion of these limitations and what pitfalls to avoid, including some helpful solutions for optimizing browser differences. http://tc.eserver.org/30669.html http://tc.eserver.org/30669.html Deploying bandwidth-efficient Ajax applications does not guarantee that the service levels in a Service Level Agreement will stay high. No matter how well you change code in the Ajax format to make it more bandwidth efficient, there will be always risks and vulnerabilities you'll need to watch out for and mitigate. Regular developerWorks author Judith Myerson gives a brief Ajax recap, shows what Web services vulnerabilities are and why Service Level Agreements (SLA) are important, and suggests some solutions for speeding up Ajax applications. http://tc.eserver.org/29966.html http://tc.eserver.org/29966.html In the age of the people-powered Web, allowing your readers to rate and review content on your site is critical. Discover just how easy it is to add rating and commenting features to a site with Ajax. http://tc.eserver.org/29964.html http://tc.eserver.org/29964.html File upload is a basic function of today's Web portals. In this article, authors Xiaobo Yang and Rob Allan describe how to develop an Ajax-based file upload JSR 168-compliant portlet using DWR (Direct Web Remoting). DWR is an ideal Ajax framework for Java developers that dynamically generates JavaScript based on server-side deployed Java classes. You will learn how you can use DWR to retrieve file upload progress from the portal server. http://tc.eserver.org/29957.html http://tc.eserver.org/29957.html This four-part series demonstrates how to use the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and XForms together to create a dynamic Web application. http://tc.eserver.org/29955.html http://tc.eserver.org/29955.html This four-part series demonstrates how to use the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and XForms together to create a dynamic Web application. Part 1 looked at the JavaScript underpinnings of each technology. Part 2 shows you how to use those JavaScript underpinnings to start mixing the two technologies together to build the rock star application. http://tc.eserver.org/29963.html http://tc.eserver.org/29963.html Deploying bandwidth-efficient Ajax applications does not guarantee that the service levels in a Service Level Agreement will stay high. No matter how well you change code in the Ajax format to make it more bandwidth efficient, there will be always risks and vulnerabilities you'll need to watch out for and mitigate. Regular developerWorks author Judith Myerson gives a brief Ajax recap, shows what Web services vulnerabilities are and why Service Level Agreements (SLA) are important, and suggests some solutions for speeding up Ajax applications. http://tc.eserver.org/29967.html http://tc.eserver.org/29967.html Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript + XML) programming techniques are increasingly dominating the world of Web application development. New developers are stepping into the world of Ajax development every day, and they come from disparate development backgrounds. Part 1 of this multipart series gives you a cheat sheet of Ajax development resources from an expert team of Ajax developers at IBM. The authors draw from their own ramp-up experiences to help you with practical information that will put you on a fast track to effective Ajax development. http://tc.eserver.org/28465.html http://tc.eserver.org/28465.html Ajax, which consists of HTML, JavaScript™ technology, DHTML, and DOM, is an outstanding approach that helps you transform clunky Web interfaces into interactive Ajax applications. The author, an Ajax expert, demonstrates how these technologies work together -- from an overview to a detailed look -- to make extremely efficient Web development an easy reality. He also unveils the central concepts of Ajax, including the XMLHttpRequest object. http://tc.eserver.org/27355.html http://tc.eserver.org/27355.html Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, or its acronym, Ajax (Pronounced A-jacks), is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire Web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the Web page's interactivity, speed, and usability. http://tc.eserver.org/27044.html http://tc.eserver.org/27044.html If a modern day Rip van Winkle woke up after just a year's sleep, he would be stunned by the buzz around Ajax today. Technology is moving very quickly in this space and whether you are a web author, a CMS developer, or a regular web user, Ajax will make some exciting changes to your world. http://tc.eserver.org/27052.html http://tc.eserver.org/27052.html The page-reload cycle presents one of the biggest usability obstacles in Web application development and is a serious challenge for Java™ developers. In this series, author Philip McCarthy introduces a groundbreaking approach to creating dynamic Web application experiences. Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a programming technique that lets you combine Java technologies, XML, and JavaScript for Java-based Web applications that break the page-reload paradigm. http://tc.eserver.org/27053.html http://tc.eserver.org/27053.html If you're doing Java Web development using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax), then delivering data from the server to the client is probably your top concern. In this second article in the Ajax for Java developers series, Philip McCarthy walks you through five approaches to Java object serialization and gives you all the information you need to choose the data format and technology best suited to your application. http://tc.eserver.org/27054.html http://tc.eserver.org/27054.html Implement a Web browser-based SOAP Web services client using the Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) design pattern. http://tc.eserver.org/27047.html http://tc.eserver.org/27047.html In simple terms, Ajax is an approach to rendering web pages that improves a web site's appeal and usability. It enhances user interaction by targeting updates from the server to specific areas of a web page. It allows information to be changed without long delays or frustrating page refreshes. http://tc.eserver.org/27051.html http://tc.eserver.org/27051.html Ajax, which consists of HTML, JavaScript™ technology, DHTML, and DOM, is an outstanding approach that helps you transform clunky Web interfaces into interactive Ajax applications. The author, an Ajax expert, demonstrates how these technologies work together -- from an overview to a detailed look -- to make extremely efficient Web development an easy reality. He also unveils the central concepts of Ajax, including the XMLHttpRequest object. http://tc.eserver.org/27050.html http://tc.eserver.org/27050.html Most Web applications use a request/response model that gets an entire HTML page from the server. The result is a back-and-forth that usually involves clicking a button, waiting for the server, clicking another button, and then waiting some more. With Ajax and the XMLHttpRequest object, you can use a request/response model that never leaves users waiting for a server to respond. In this article, Brett McLaughlin shows you how to create XMLHttpRequest instances in a cross-browser way, construct and send requests, and respond to the server. http://tc.eserver.org/26907.html http://tc.eserver.org/26907.html Ajax is an awesome technology that is driving a new generation of web apps, from maps.google.com to colr.org to backpackit.com. But Ajax is also a dangerous technology for web developers, its power introduces a huge amount of UI problems as well as server side state problems and server load problems. http://tc.eserver.org/26891.html http://tc.eserver.org/26891.html For many Web developers, making simple requests and receiving simple responses is all they'll ever need, but for developers who want to master Ajax, a complete understanding of HTTP status codes, ready states, and the XMLHttpRequest object is required. In this article, Brett McLaughlin will show you the different status codes and demonstrate how browsers handle each and he will showcase the lesser-used HTTP requests that you can make with Ajax. http://tc.eserver.org/26893.html http://tc.eserver.org/26893.html The ability to add notes and comments to your Web site can be a powerful and attractive feature for users. This tutorial demonstrates how to implement an Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)-based user annotation system in the form of yellow sticky notes that sit on top of regular Web page content. The only additional, required configuration is a back-end Perl script that stores the annotations.