Building Richly Interactive Web Apps with Ajax

FalsePositives writes "Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications (from Adaptive Path and via Jeffery Veen) introduces their experiences with what they are calling 'Ajax' as in 'Asynchronous JavaScript + XML' aka the XmlHttpRequest Object. It is used by Google (Google Maps, Google Suggest, Gmail), in Amazon's A9, and a few others (like the map of Switzerland spotted by Simon Willison). ... Is this 'The rise of the Weblication'?"

Comments

Re:Flash for Rich Web Applications

[RAruler]

I personally want to bash everyone who agrees with you with a frying pan. Fuck Flash.

Flash should only be used for cheezy animations, and even then it shouldn't be used.

Re:Java app

[snorklewacker]

> if you really want something on the web to feel like an app, why not make it a Java app that runs in the browser?

Because java's a nasty cumbersome bureacratic language, applets take an age to load, the GUI toolkit isn't nearly as easy to lay out as HTML+CSS, and you can't bookmark your position in an applet. That's just to start.

Flash == Rich

[Bustback]

More people can see Flash than can see Google's new uber-cool map system.

If the map system were developed with a Flash front end, it would be:

1. More interactive
2. More responsive
3. With a smaller footprint
4. With a broader audience
5. With full browser support

I gather you're a fan of SVG animation, think VRML is still a cool technology, and think Javascript can deal with the "Rich" part of Rich Application Development.

var isRich = javascript == rich ? true:false;
if (isRich)
{
trace("Hell froze over");
}

I like cheese. :P

Re:Java app

[m50d]

Because Java looks butt-ugly, and is very slow. Call me a troll if you like but it's true.