Mailbag: What does “Ajaxed” actually mean?
I used “Ajaxed” in the sentence “The interface is nicely Ajaxed and …” in the post about Jyte.com, and immediately received a question about it:
What does Ajaxed actually mean?
Well, I attempt to give a fairly brief and simple explanation of this term below. Note that there are many sources online where Ajax is discussed in detail, particularly the technologies it comprises.
Ajax is a term first coined by Jesse Garrett in 2005 to describe various technologies that when combined enhance the Web experience. How? Well, when information on a Web page changes, the whole page is typically refreshed to reflect those changes. This results in lag time where the user must wait for the entire page to reload; even when the change in question is a single piece of information on one part of the Web page.
An Ajax enhanced Web page will only update the fragment of the page where the change actually occurs. This offers a smoother and elegant experience for the user, reduces bandwidth usage (less data transmitted), and provides opportunities for developers to create novel ways of displaying information and improving interactions on the Web.
In fact, if implemented properly Ajax can shift the Web experience closer to the desktop experience, particularly in terms of responsiveness.
My opinion is that Ajax is a transitory technology that demonstrates how the Web will look and feel sometime soon.
See the Wikipedia entry on Ajax for more information or see it in action at social networking Websites such as ma.gnolia.com or jyte.com.
