More code things...web developers...

vaaaska

This is nothing new, but it's becoming more ubiquitous. I've read about 10 different articles that all basically point the same concepts. This one is more in-depth than anything I've seen so far...

Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications

http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php

pohopo

This sounds like client side processing and does not really seem all that new. The difference is they are using the latest and greatest functions. The downside is it only works on the newest browsers.

Another problem I had was that the author implied that google suggest does all the work on the client as you type each letter. (look at the Ajax web application model in the article). This is false as google suggest is connected, so every time you type in a letter it sends a request to google.com who has to process the request send data back.

This is from google.com

# Can Google Suggest see what I'm typing?
Just as E.T.(TM) needs to phone home in order to get a spaceship to pick him up, Google Suggest needs to talk to Google while you type in order to offer suggestions to you. Everything you type, though, is protected by Google's privacy policy.

vaaaska

I'm not sure about the Google part of things...

While it's not new it's becoming more ubiquitous. Basically, using javascript and xml (and php if one wants) they are creating really rich web applications. In some ways, very much like Flash (and Java, etc)...

While the window technically does not refresh, new data can be queried, inserted, edited, etc. and then served up...

I don't really want to even consider how this thing could evolve to help advertisers fill our screen with stuff...

bubblenut

What is Ajax exactly? Is it a piece of software to manage your XMLHttpRequest objects, is it the name for a new technology or is it a multi-purpose kitchen detergent?

Here's another thread siting some software for using these princilples with PHP.

pohopo

from what i read Ajax is like DHTML. A term to describe a group of different technologies. Ajax (to me) looks like DHTML+XML. However, they used google suggest as an example and that site is continually connected to google making it similar to AIM Express.

vaaaska

http://jpspan.sourceforge.net/wiki/doku.php?id=javascript:xmlhttprequest

XMLHttpRequest is a native JavaScript object allowing further HTTP requests to be made from a page which has already loaded. It allows Microrequests to be made in response to user events in a web page, rather than requiring a complete page reload, making it possible to implement some notion of a rich client user interface, similar to desktop applications.

The API provided allows a fairly fine grained level of control over HTTP requests, allowing any request header to be set and exposes all response headers.

The original implementation came from Microsoft as an ActiveX object for IE. Mozilla followed suit and implemented XMLHttpRequest with an (almost) identical API. Konqueror (and Safari v1.2, based also on KHTML) also has an XMLHttpRequest implementation and support should be coming in Opera from v7.6x+.

vaaaska

http://www.modernmethod.com/sajax/

Sajax is a tool to make programming websites using the Ajax framework — also known as XMLHTTPRequest or remote scripting — as easy as possible. Sajax makes it easy to call PHP functions from your webpages via JavaScript without performing a browser refresh. The toolkit does 99% of the work for you so you have no excuse to not use it.

onion2k

Originally posted by vaaaska
http://www.modernmethod.com/sajax/
Sajax makes it easy to call PHP functions from your webpages via JavaScript without performing a browser refresh. The toolkit does 99% of the work for you so you have no excuse to not use it.

I think the fact about 10% of web users don't have Javascript switched on is a pretty good excuse not to use it..

Weedpacket

Originally posted by onion2k
I think the fact about 10% of web users don't have Javascript switched on is a pretty good excuse not to use it..

That's true, for situations where you've got J. Random Surfer messing around on the site; but I think for more in-depth web-based applications it is pretty much vital that client-side processing be supported on latency grounds alone.

RossC0

Originally posted by Weedpacket
That's true, for situations where you've got J. Random Surfer messing around on the site; but I think for more in-depth web-based applications it is pretty much vital that client-side processing be supported on latency grounds alone.

I agree, javascript allows extremely powerful toolkit and will increasingly be utilised in the future, especially by businesses.

Rich Web Applications - ie. XUL and Laszlo are utilising it to provide a rich client-side interface. Which HTML or DHTML for that matter cannot compete.

vaaaska

Yeah, every tool has it's time and place.

Speaking of tools...I saw this guy speak on Wednesday. He's utilizing javascript inside Illustrator for some really neat stuff...now I don't have to learn how to do stuff with PostScript...

http://www.scriptographer.com/

And then there is Hektor (same person, but this is the name of the machine)... 😉

http://www.hektor.ch/