We have recently upgraded our contact form with intouch. Until that moment I was totally oblivious of this technology called AJAX, short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML which isn’t really a technology of its own but a method of pulling in several existing technologies (Javascript, XML, XHTML, CSS, DOM, you name it) together to create better user interactivity. If this still sounds strange to you, don’t worry, I’m still having a hard time figuring it out myself. To give a more solid example, look at Gmail and Flickr. They use AJAX from the day I was born (well maybe not that long but they’re the first ones implementing it on the web). Anyway to cut a long summary short, this is the life purpose of AJAX:
Obviously, if we were designing the Web from scratch for applications, we wouldn’t make users wait around. Once an interface is loaded, why should the user interaction come to a halt every time the application needs something from the server? In fact, why should the user see the application go to the server at all?
Those are the wise words of Jesse James Garrett from adaptive path regarding our new friend AJAX.
Understand it? Maybe not. Why don’t you leave us a note and see what I’m talking about in real time. No page refreshing, no waiting. That is AJAX! 