What is Ajax?
Attention Interactive is developing web sites for its Los Angeles web development clients using Ajax programming language. By using Ajax programming language we increase the responsiveness and interactivity of web sites. We predominantly use Ajax to enhance the back-end user experience on Content Management Systems we develop for our clients, but from time to time, we use it on the front end as well.Ajax is not just one technology – it is a hybrid of several technologies: XTHML, CSS, DOM (Dynamic Object Model), XML, XSLT and JavaScript – as the final glue that brings all of this together.
The major advantage of the Ajax programming language is the fact that it exchanges small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes and web pages do not have to be fully loaded, which is the case with other programming languages. This approach increases web sites interactivity, usability and functionality, as well as speed. Another thing that helps with speed is that we host all of our enterprise level applications on Rackspace-dedicated servers, which spit out your pages considerably faster than any other servers we have experienced.
Ajax is written in JavaScript and we know how to write Ajax web pages that are well optimized for Search Engine Optimization. Attention Interactive Ajax applications are complemented by strategic use and placement of sitemaps that search engines can index. We have developed a couple of methods for overcoming certain issues with search engines and JavaScript. Our Los Angeles web design and development clients have experienced outstanding SEO in comparison to previous problems they encountered with less than "friendly" search engine techniques.
Ajax is usable on many different operating systems and our Ajax applications work in all browsers. The major reason we recommend Ajax to our web development clients, both in Los Angeles and throughout the world, is to overcome web site loading time. Properly coded, Ajax creates useable conditions for the evolution of complex and dynamic interfaces in web pages. Ajax web pages load quicker since the amount of data being downloaded is much smaller and the rest of the data layout doesn’t have to be redrawn on each update. It not only saves on bandwidth usage, but through Ajax we can achieve true separation of data format, style and function.
When Attention Interactive programs using Ajax, we clearly separate methods and formats used for the different parts of delivery of data on the web. One of the major disadvantages of Ajax cited in the web development community was its inability to integrate with all browsers. We have implemented and published various solutions to this problem. We occasionally use iFrame methods to overcome various bugs and issues in earlier versions of the language. Many users complain, for example, that dynamic web site updates make it difficult for them to bookmark certain web sites they want to save for later viewing. We solve this by using fragment identifiers to keep track of web sites users have visited.
We carefully consider network latency when developing Ajax applications, so users do not experience delays sometimes inherent in poorly written Ajax applications.
For reference on Ajax and to learn more, we recommend you check out following books we highly recommend:
First, get "The Elements of User Experience", by Jesse James Garret. Although we don't personally know him and have no reason to endorse him, our developers have read his book and we keep it in our Los Angeles web design corporate library as a reference guide. Another, more technical, book we have in our library is "Professional Ajax", 2nd Edition (Programmer to Programmer). Most of our clients don't read this book – they hire us to do the work for them – but if you are developer seeking a job and want to impress us, you will be asked questions from this book. The book covers Ajax techniques, users' cases, patterns, frames, JavaScript methods, cookies, XML and lot of other details only programmers would care about.
For more on Ajax – Google it.
Cheers.
Attention Interactive
Los Angeles Web Development Team
