Joe's Blog

AJAX

AJAX stands for Adaptive JavaScript. It primarily is a technique of using asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest and several other features like XML, CSS etc all tied together with JavaScripts. Example of web sites using are http://maps.google.com
It improves user experience since the calls are asynchronous.
But this has a downside it increases the amount of JavaScripts needed and more work for the browsers. This problem is further compounded by poorly designed applications which in the end result bad user experience as well as maintenance difficultly.
Designing such a system is also difficult and does not follow most of the regular design process.
Overall I see it as good but the good could be a "cloak and dagger" game. So it is better to be cautious at the design stage. These and other considerations should be part of the risk assessment for the project if you intend to use AJAX.
There are several good articles on it, read and also be wary of it.

posted by Joseph Poozhikunnel @ 2:59 PM