~~SLIDESHOW~~ ====== An Introduction to Ajax ====== **Contact Hour 16**: To be discussed on Wednesday 7th March 2012. **Lecturer**: [[C.P.Jobling@Swansea.ac.uk|Dr Chris P. Jobling]]. Ajax is a reformulation of the DHTML idea that aims to make the user experience of interactive web applications more like the experience that they get with traditional desktop application. We introduce the Ajax idea and give a demonstration of its capabilities. ===== An Introduction to Ajax ===== > "Ajax, shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, and usability."((Ajax (programming), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. URL: [[wp>Ajax (programming)|Ajax (programming)]].)) ---- This session is based on Jesse James Garrett's original web article on Ajax((Jesse James Garrett, //Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications//, Adaptive Path, February 18, 2005. URL: http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php.)) with contributions from Zeldman ((Jeffery Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards, 2nd Edition, New Riders, 2007.)) pp 112--113, Wikipedia ((Ajax (programming), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. URL: [[wp>Ajax (programming)|Ajax (programming)]].))((''XMLHttpRequest'', Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. URL: [[wp>XMLHttpRequest]].))((JSON, Wikipedia, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. URL: [[wp>JSON]].))((Ajax Framework, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. URL: [[wp>Ajax_framework|Ajax framework]])), the critique to be found in the //A List Apart// article ((Jeffrey Zeldman, "Web 3.0", //A List Apart//, January 16, 2006. URL: http://www.alistapart.com/articles/web3point0.)), and an on-line web tutorial [8]. ===== Contents of this Session ===== An introduction to AJAX * [[eg-259:lecture12#three_year_s_ago|Introduction]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#defining_ajax|Defining Ajax]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#how_ajax_is_different|How Ajax is Different]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#who_s_using_ajax|Who's Using Ajax?]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#case_studies|Case Studies]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#critique|Critique]] * [[eg-259:lecture12#ajax_in_jquery|Ajax in jQuery]] (video) ===== Learning Outcomes ===== //At the end of this lecture you should be able to answer these questions//: * Define Ajax * What technologies does Ajax use? * How does the Ajax web differ from the classic web? * How does Ajax improve the user experience? ===== Learning Outcomes (more) ===== //At the end of this lecture you should be able to answer these questions//: * Who uses Ajax? * What is the Ajax engine? * What is JSON? * What advantage does an Ajax framework provide the web developer? ===== Acknowledgments ===== {{ eg-259:headshot_garrett.jpg|Jess James Garrett}} * This lecture is inspired by and based on [[http://www.adaptivepath.com/ideas/essays/archives/000385.php|Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications]] by Jesse James Garrett (pictured) of Adaptive Path.((Adaptive Path is a Consultancy which specializes in improving the interaction between the web and people.)) * Additional notes are adapted from Wikipedia articles and other web sites which will be referenced in the slides. ===== In 2004 -- Before AJAX ===== * User interaction with web clients was largely limited to the small number of controls provided by the HTML ''