AJAX is a web design approach that uses asynchronous JavaScript and XML to make web applications work more like desktop applications. It removes delays between user interaction and application response, but has some detractors who argue that it breaks intended functionality.
AJAX is a term used to describe an approach to designing and implementing web applications. It stands for asynchronous JavaScript and XML. The term was first introduced in an article by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path, a San Francisco-based web design firm. He conceived the term when he realized the need for an easy and marketable way to offer a certain style of design and construction to clients.
The main purpose of AJAX is to help make web applications work more like desktop applications. HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the language that drives the World-Wide Web, was designed around the idea of hypertext: pages of text that could be internally linked to other documents. For HTML to work, most of the actions an end user performs in their browser send a request to the web server. The server then processes that request, perhaps sends further requests, and finally responds with any user requests.
While this approach may have worked well in the early days of the internet, for modern web applications, the constant waiting between clicks is frustrating for users and serves to dampen the overall experience. Users have gotten used to lightning fast responses in their desktop applications and are not happy when a website can’t offer the same immediate response. By adding an extra layer between the user interface and communication with the server, AJAX applications remove much of the delay between user interaction and application response. As AJAX becomes more common in popular web applications, users become more and more accustomed to this immediate response, helping to drive more companies to adopt AJAX methodologies.
An AJAX application is made up of a number of applications used together to create a smoother experience. This includes Extensible HTML (XHTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to build the underlying page structure and its visual style respectively; a sort of interaction suite using the Document Object Model; data manipulation using Extensible Markup Language (XML); data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest; and JavaScript to help these different elements interact with each other. AJAX is spreading rapidly across the web, with examples visible on many major sites. Google Maps, for example, embodies the ethos of the AJAX model in many ways, with its complex functionality and virtually seamless interactivity.
Like most emerging web development philosophies, AJAX has its share of detractors. A commonly made argument against AJAX is that in many cases it breaks some intended functionality, such as the use of the back button, causing confusion. While there are some fixes for many of these breaks, they are rarely implemented to the extent that the behavior of an AJAX application conforms to the expected behavior of the larger browser.
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