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AJAX & REA: Article

The Spread of AJAX Makes the Spread of Wildfire Look Slow

AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series expands across the USA and into Europe

SYS-CON Media's passionate coverage of the i-technologies that are increasingly shaping our businesses, our education, our society, and therefore our lives has remained consistent. We have added AjaxWorld Magazine, along with Web 2.0 Journal; and we have redoubled our effort to offer high-quality education nationwide through SYS-CON Events such as the "Real-World AJAX" series of seminars (in March, April, June, and October) and our innovative conference program: SOA Web Services Edge 2006 Conference & Expo, Enterprise Open Source 2006 Conference & Expo, and AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo 2006.

The AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series recognizes that, while on the one hand Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) as a category is wider and broader than just AJAX, on the other it is indisputably AJAX that has acted as the tipping point. No sooner had we finalized plans for the inaugural event - at the Santa Clara convention Center, October 3-4, 2006 - than popular demand from our international subscribers and sponsors has spurred the launch of the first first international AjaxWorld(TM) Europe Conference & Expo (www.ajaxworldexpo.com) will take place on May 7-8, 2007, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

"The spread of AJAX makes the spread of wildfire look slow" - that, in a nutshell, was the concerted opinion of the welter of experts we consulted on the burning question, What Makes AJAX So Special?

BILL SCOTT, Interaction Designer and AJAX Evangelist at Yahoo! had no doubt what makes AJAX so special:

"Instead of designing the user flow in chunks around the submit and hyperlink events, suddenly you are now able to design with the user in mind, respecting the true workflow process; keeping the user "in the flow". It has opened the potential for information in context all the time, in real time and just-in-time; just the way the user thinks about the problem. That is why AJAX is so special."

Here (in summary form only) is what some of the other executives we surveyed had to say:

JOUK PLEITER, Co-Founder and CEO of Backbase:

"Ajax-based RIAs enable companies to dramatically improve the way they communicate and interact with their customers, resulting in higher online customer conversion rates and “stickiness.”
ERIC MIRAGLIA, expert on advanced JavaScript utilities and widgets works at Yahoo!'s Presentation Platform Team:
"Fewer clicks, greater immediacy, more and faster control - these are the hallmarks of AJAX-enabled interfaces. Because they address core weaknesses associated with the web in its Netscape 4 incarnation, we're quickly discovering that the new possibilities are potentially transformative."
ERIC PASCARELLO, co-author of the bestselling book Ajax in Action and the author of JavaScript: Your Visual Blueprint for Building Dynamic Web Pages:
"Ajax is big for one main reason: it is not server platform dependent. I can write a JavaScript front end that can talk with PHP, Java, .NET, ColdFusion, etc. That is why Ajax is getting so much attention. You have all of these developer groups that usually taunt each other working in the same area! If it were just dependent on one serverside framework Java or .NET, I do not think it would have been so big."
Strukhoff Talks to Marc Farley
The primary focus at the "Real-World AJAX" seminars being largely on the developer side of the equation, SYS-CON Media's West Coast Bureau Chief Roger Strukhoff decided to investigate the IT management aspects of AJAX's growing influence. Enterprise IT analyst Marc Farley joined Strukhoff in a discussion about AJAX and IT, and also considered issues relating to "Net Neutrality" as well as Microsoft's recent China investment in an exclusive podcast just released.

More Stories By Jeremy Geelan

Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the all-new International Cloud Computing Expo series, of the International Virtualization Expo series, of AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo series, and of the long-running SOAWorld Conference & Expo series. He's founder of Cloud Computing Journal, Web 2.0 Journal, AJAX & RIA Journal and other leading SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.

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Most Recent Comments
j j 09/28/06 08:46:51 AM EDT

The AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series is a world-beating Conference program aimed at providing developers and IT managers alike with comprehensive information and insight into the biggest paradigm shift in website design, development, and deployment since the invention of the World Wide Web itself a decade ago.

j j 09/27/06 07:46:52 PM EDT

The AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series is a world-beating Conference program aimed at providing developers and IT managers alike with comprehensive information and insight into the biggest paradigm shift in website design, development, and deployment since the invention of the World Wide Web itself a decade ago.

j j 09/27/06 07:26:20 PM EDT

The AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series is a world-beating Conference program aimed at providing developers and IT managers alike with comprehensive information and insight into the biggest paradigm shift in website design, development, and deployment since the invention of the World Wide Web itself a decade ago.

j j 09/27/06 06:40:49 PM EDT

The AjaxWorld(TM) Conference & Expo series is a world-beating Conference program aimed at providing developers and IT managers alike with comprehensive information and insight into the biggest paradigm shift in website design, development, and deployment since the invention of the World Wide Web itself a decade ago.

Shaurabh Bharti 05/01/06 08:03:49 AM EDT

what is the optimum size of string tat shall be send in one query using AJAX? Does optimising on that helps improve ajax performance?

caffeination 04/30/06 07:20:58 AM EDT

I can barely spectate from a distance on AJAX sites, thanks to my slightly-below-average connection. I'm fairly sure Blogspot's main page uses AJAX for the scrolling list of recent posts, and it maxes out my Celeron D.

Digg comment pages take over a minute to load on my computer.

tedgyz 04/30/06 03:56:55 AM EDT

> AJAX is great. Of course, the XML bit of it
> gets in the way, it's simpler to just grab
> the appropriate HTML or Javascript code
> directly from the server. Why write
> something that outputs in XML, then write
> client-side Javascript to re-interpret it
> and run javascript code or create HTML? XML
> is just a complication for most tasks.

For legacy sites, your argument is valid. However, given that HTML is just a rule-breaking XML, I don't quite see what the fuss is about.

If I'm using AJAX for something useful, like streaming data that fills a table in a web page, I think well-formatted XML is useful.

With that said, I think XML is far too overrated and far too often glibly suggested as a solution to a problem. XML is just a useful data format.

gregmac 04/30/06 02:12:35 AM EDT

AJAX is great. Of course, the XML bit of it gets in the way, it's simpler to just grab the appropriate HTML or Javascript code directly from the server. Why write something that outputs in XML, then write client-side Javascript to re-interpret it and run javascript code or create HTML? XML is just a complication for most tasks.

Alex Bosworth Speaks 04/30/06 01:38:39 AM EDT

It's been well over a year now since GMail changed the way everyone thought about web apps. Alex Bosworth writes:

"It's now officially annoying to use web apps that haven't replaced clunky html functionality with peppy Ajax goodness."

Bosworth lists 10 places Ajax should now be required in a web application - here's the link: http://www.sourcelabs.com/blogs/ajb/2005/12/10_places_you_must_use_ajax....

COMET - the next stage of AJAX 04/30/06 01:17:50 AM EDT

COMET - the next stage of AJAX: Web2.0 Technologien gehen in die nächste Runde. Während immer mehr Menschen wissen, was sich hinter AJAX verbirgt, taucht bereits ein neuer Himmelkörper im Universum2.0 auf: ein COMET.

The AJAX Future 04/30/06 12:43:19 AM EDT

there are more than 70 major players in the AJAX development market and many of the tools are open source and free.

This means that the tools alone are of minimal value; if businesses intend that AJAX-based business applications are going be cost-effective, then they need much more than tools.

How will this AJAX market shape up?