Web programming. Ajax scripts

What are Ajax scripts? What are Ajax scripts used for? Should you use Ajax during development of websites for business? Specialists of web design studio WebStudio2U answer these questions.

Ajax is shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It is a relatively new approach to creation of interactive user interfaces of web applications. The term “Ajax” was coined in the article entitled “Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications” written by Jesse James Garrett.

Ajax technologies have been quite actively used in web design recently. Among the advantages of Ajax we can single out first of all the increase in the speed of loading of web pages and improvements of website usability.

In contrast to older methods Ajax loads only modified data in response to the user's actions without refreshing the whole page of the site. Thus the time needed for loading of the page reduces as well as the server load.

The term Ajax does not refer to a particular technology; it is a concept of use of several adjacent technologies. To realize Ajax on a website you should interconnect standardized description with the use of XHTML and CSS, Document Object Model, JavaScript code, asynchronous retrieving of data using XMLHttpRequest, XML for the interchange of data, and XSLT for its manipulation.

When Ajax scripts first appeared, web designers tried to use them for the whole site, but the effectiveness of such approach is low.

Firstly, Ajax scripts should not be used for navigation links on a website – search robots cannot process Ajax scripts yet; it means, that they cannot follow such links and finish the indexing of the entire site. That is why Ajax scripts are simply baneful for search engine optimization (SEO) of the site if they are used unreasonably.

Secondly, Ajax scripts lead to certain loss of browser functionality: users cannot make bookmarks and use “Next Page”/“Previous Page” buttons. It is a serious blow to website usability that can nullify all advantages of using Ajax.

Ajax scripts have a quite wide range of application. For instance, using Ajax you can:

• create small navigation elements, such as addition of the products into a shopping cart in an online shop, subscription to the site news;
• retrieve data from the server dynamically as required (for example, in online chats);
• perform actions that are imperceptible for the user, for example, autosave of the edited text.

Do websites for business need Ajax scripts?

The main task of any website for business is to attract the attention of potential clients of the company and provide the site visitors with required information. If in order to solve this task you have to secure the fastest possible access of the users to the required information, create convenient conditions for using the site, the use of Ajax technologies is more than reasonable in this case.

Ajax scripts are notable for their considerably high level of complicity. For instance, if you use the asynchronous model, the processing of the communication and user errors becomes more complicated (in comparison to the synchronous model), because the response to an event occurs immediately, and the response from the server is received with a time lag. Integrity control and action sequence control also become more complicated.

All these factors evidence that development of Ajax scripts for a business site should be performed by professional web programmers only. It is professionals that know how to avoid the pitfalls of Ajax and perform the task that has been set for the site. Their vast practical experience helps them to write competent Ajax scripts.

Web design studio WebStudio2U offers professional web programming of websites for business. The professionalism and skillfulness of out web programmers help to turn Ajax scripts into the most effective solutions that meet the strictest quality and safety requirements.

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ajax, ajax scripts, use of ajax, web programming, ajax technologies