Professional Ajax
Chapter One
What Is Ajax?
From 2001 to 2005, the World Wide Web went through a tremendous growth spurt in terms of the
technologies and methodologies being used to bring this once-static medium to life. Online
brochures and catalogs no longer dominated the Internet as web applications began to emerge as a
significant portion of online destinations. Web applications differed from their web site ancestors
in that they provided an instant service to their users, not just information. Whether for business
process management or personal interests, developers were forced to create new interaction
paradigms as users came to expect richer functionality.
Spurred on by little-known and lesser-used technologies that had been included in web browsers
for some time, the Web took a bold step forward, shattering the traditional usage model that
required a full page load every time new data or a new part of the application's logic was
accessed. Companies began to experiment with dynamic reloading of portions of w ... read full excerpt from Professional Ajax ebook
