Every now and then, I keep hearing people discussing the power of AJAX. First, let me explain in brief for those who don’t know about this technique:

What does AJAX stand for is Asynchronous Javascript And XML. This technique is being used frequently by WEB 2.0 designers to make cross browser website; the client can submit information without refreshing the whole page. But, is it really asynchronous? Well, for an application to be asynchronous, there should be replies without requests (you’ll get this idea better in a bit). In AJAX, there is no reply without request! It should be called SJAX (Synchronous JavaScript And XML). For the Javascript part, it’s simple! it is the only way to have a light weight client side (instead of Flash, Java Applets or ActiveX Apps). XML (Extended Markup Language) should not be a big deal since the functions used for AJAX do not require XML.

Is AJAX really powerful? Continue reading »