Ajax

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.

Wikipedia. Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Ajax Mistakes

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.

Bosworth, Alex. Sourcelabs.com (2005). Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Ajax Wireframing Approaches

Goes over a few techniques and approaches we use to create the foundation of every prototype--wireframes. In addition to serving as documentation for those working with the markup, wireframes are a great way to create screenshots and debug rendering problems that are happening during DOM manipulation. Whenever we find something looking funny during the development process, we always refer back to our wireframes to see if it’s a markup / presentation problem. If it renders right in the browser statically, then we know to look for the problem in the JavaScript or server side programming.

Hale, Kevin. Particletree (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Dynamic HTML and XML: The XMLHttpRequest Object

As deployment of XML data and web services becomes more widespread, you may occasionally find it convenient to connect an HTML presentation directly to XML data for interim updates without reloading the page. Thanks to the little-known XMLHttpRequest object, an increasing range of web clients can retrieve and submit XML data directly, all in the background. To convert retrieved XML data into renderable HTML content, rely on the client-side Document Object Model (DOM) to read the XML document node tree and compose HTML elements that the user sees.

Apple Inc. (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Editable Ajax Grid

Cross-browser JavaScript grid control for displaying tabular data in DHTML based table. Comprehensive features include fast-loading (enabled by AJAX), client-side sorting, columns resizing, multiple cell control types and keyboard navigation.

Scand (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Getting Started with Ajax

The start of 2005 saw the rise of a relatively new technology, dubbed 'Ajax' by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path. Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. In a nutshell, it is the use of the nonstandard XMLHttpRequest() object to communicate with server-side scripts. It can send as well as receive information in a variety of formats, including XML, HTML, and even text files. Ajax’s most appealing characteristic, however, is its 'asynchronous' nature, which means it can do all of this without having to refresh the page. This allows you to update portions of a page based upon user events and provides one of the cornerstones of Rich Internet Applications (RIA) referred to in discussions of 'Web 2.0.'

Gustafson, Aaron. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

An Introduction to AJAX

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.

Prokata (2006). Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Mastering Ajax, Part 3: Advanced Requests and Responses in Ajax

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.

McLaughlin, Brett D. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Mastering Ajax, Part 4: Exploiting DOM for Web Response

The great divide between programmers (who work with back-end applications) and Web programmers (who spend their time writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) is long standing. However, the Document Object Model (DOM) bridges the chasm and makes working with both XML on the back end and HTML on the front end possible and an effective tool. In this article, Brett McLaughlin introduces the Document Object Model, explains its use in Web pages, and starts to explore its usage from JavaScript.

McLaughlin, Brett D. IBM (2006). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

Re-Write a Layer's Content with Javascript

One of the most common tasks Web developers face every day is to change the content of a Web page, without additional requests to the Web server. The easiest way to accomplish this assignment is through the use of layers.

Todorov, Peter. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax

User Annotations in Ajax  

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.

Travis, Greg. IBM (2006). Articles>Web Design>DHTML>Ajax