When To Use Ajax

Take a look around the web today. You'll be hard-pressed to find many interfaces that don't incorporate at least some aspect of ajax. The term ajax has grown to mean more than just asynchronous javascript API requests, although that is a huge part of it.

Ajax can add a new level of interactivity to a web application user interface. This can be done by making changes to an existing interface or by implementing the principles of ajax straight from the get go. Typically, however, you aren't going to want to use asynchronous API calls from an existing javascript application that doesn't already. Especially not if it is stable. There are other aspects of the ajax style that can still be applied in these scenarios.

Many javascript toolkits are in existence today and most provide widget support in one form or another. Widgets are really no different from those found in APIs for desktop environments. The only obvious difference is that these widgets are drawn in the browser using javascript and CSS. Developers get a few things for free when implementing the widgets found in javascript toolkits. First, you get the free design, which, isn't easy to do. Especially if themes are of concern. Second, many of these widgets are configurable and can offer the end user subtle behavioral interaction improvements. The overall user interface has been made "smoother".

One of the great things about the web is addressability. Opponents of ajax say that ajax applications take this attribute away. And, in most cases, they are right because applications that use asynchronous javascript API calls exclusively, have no URIs that users can see and manipulate. They can't copy and paste links. This is one of the key reasons why the web is the size that it is today.

There is, however, a middle ground. Just because a web application implements ideas found in ajax doesn't mean that it can't have useful URIs. Even if the set of useful URIs is a small one, it is still useful to have for the user's sake. Obviously, these URIs become less important if the web application is an internal application that doesn't live on the web.