What is AJAX?

AJAX is an acronym for Asynchronous Javascript and XML, which may mean very little to you if you are not a guru or nerd. What is meaningful to you is that this is an exciting new technology that can make your web pages do some very cool things!

Have you seen Google Maps or perhaps GMail? They're both Ajax applications. These and all Ajax applications represent a great advancement in web programming. No longer are you forced to wait five seconds for the page to reload every time you click on something. Ajax applications change in real time. They can let you drag boxes around, they can refresh themselves with new information, they can completely re-arrange the page without clearing it. And there's no special plugin required. Ajax technology utilizes features of modern browsers to produce something that feels less web and more desktop. Some of the advantages of applications using Ajax include:

Continuity: Traditional web applications force you to submit a form, wait a few seconds, watch the page redraw, and then add some more info. Forgot to enter the area code in a phone number? Start all over again. Sometimes, you feel like you're in the middle of a traffic jam: go 100 feet, stop a minute, go 100 feet, stop a minute ... How many E-Commerce sales have been lost because the user encountered one too many error messages and gave up the battle? Ajax offers a smooth ride all the way. No page reloads; you type and the browser responds.

Real-Time Updates: Ajax applications can update the page in real-time. Currently, newsservices on the web redraw the entire page at intervals, e.g. once every 15 minutes. In contrast, it's feasible for a browser running an Ajax application to poll the server every few seconds, so it's capable of updating any information directly on the parts of the page that need changing. The rest of the page is unaffected.

Graphical Interaction: Flashy backdrops are abundant on the web, but the basic mode of interaction has nevertheless mimicked the 1970s-style form-based data entry systems. Ajax represents a transition into the world of GUI controls visible on present-day desktops. Thus, you will encounter animations such as fading text to tell you something's just been saved, you will be able to drag items around, you will see some static text suddenly turn  into an edit field as you hover over it.

With all the hype about "Ajax web applications", you could be forgiven for assuming Ajax is some radical new plugin, akin to Macromedia Flash. And you would therefore be under the impression that Ajax is out of bounds until you upgrade your "so last month" browser, or at least download the coveted "Ajax plugin". The fact is, You can run Ajax right now! At least, assuming you have a web browser from the past few years - IE, Firefox, Safari, or Opera. No need to install anything new on you computer.

A prime example of an Ajax powered application is the "Magic Blog" by ToucanMultimedia.com