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Tips and Tricks About AJAX Applications

What is AJAX?

AJAX, short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a new and emerging technology enabling web developers to make pages with a more interactive presence than was previously possible. AJAX uses the powers of HTML, Java, XML, and XMLHttpRequest to improve user activity and interaction by making web pages more receptive to customers.

In the past, most user actions triggered an HTTP request, a method used to transfer information over the net. The new information would then be sent to the server, where the server would do some processing, or make changes to a database. Finally, the server would return a new HTML page to the customer. AJAX completely circumvents this often lengthy process by allowing browsers to edit database records, mutate on-screen forms, return simple search queries, and manipulate on screen data without the need to fetch a new HTML page each time a change is made. Not only is AJAX a major step for technology, but it is also and important advancement in the growing trends of e-commerce and online marketing.

AJAX allows vendors to transform their websites from the standard model of customer interaction, to being able to have a real-time interface with customers. As a result, customers are less likely to lose attention, and/or switch websites, due to constant reloading or lag (load time). This is major advantage to online retailers, for several reasons when it comes to e-commerce. First, AJAX is a much more appealing interface to the customer allowing customers to make minor changes to online products such as color or size without the need to call a new page. For example, if a customer is shopping for a new dress shirt and he wants to change the color of current shirt being displayed from white to blue, the server would need to reload the current HTML page with a blue shirt instead of a white one, while keeping all of the other information on the page constant. However, with AJAX, the instant the user selects blue a change can be made to the onscreen display, without the need to completely reload the entire page. Not only is this approach much more appealing to customers, the process is also much more time efficient.

AJAX is a maturing technology that is still in its developmental stage. Its full capabilities are not yet known, but one thing is certain, that it has the potential to completely alter they way businesses interact with their customers over the internet.