AJAX Rich Internet Applications
AJAX combines Javascript, XML, CSS and Server-Side scripting to create dynamic web pages that rival desktop applications.In a typical web site the header, navigation and footer remain the same in most web pages. Only the main content changes as you browse around. That makes the website consistent and more user-friendly.
In that case only the main content needs to be loaded when a new page is accessed without reloading other parts or refresh the entire web browser window.
That can be achieved with AJAX. The obvious advantages of an AJAX application over a traditional website are:
- less delay in information access
- faster rendering and more responsive web pages
- increased productivity for data intensive web applications
- less bandwidth consumption for your internet connection
- modular and more expandable web applications
- taking advantage the web server's computing power
You could choose to have your web site designed using frames based layout or just insert an internal frame. However this in turn introduce the risk of having your web pages not indexed by most Internet Search Engines.
You could also get a interactive web site using Flash to build a multimedia rich application. In the end, opting for an AJAX application offers more advantages:
- there is no need for extra plugin for the end-user's web browser
- your web site is not tied to a proprietary technology
- your application is much easier to update and expand
- your web pages can be indexed by Search Engines
With AJAX you get interactive dynamic web pages that can be indexed by Search Engines.
To get an idea of the potential of an AJAX web application, take a look at how AJAX is putted to work in Google Suggest, Google Maps, Gmail Web Client or in Amazon's A9.com search Engine.
Contact us to determine how AJAX is appropriate for your web site.