Google Wireless Networks at Conferences
Mar 05

RE: AJaX: Two steps forward… Two steps back?

Ajax, JavaScript Add comments

John Reynolds is worried about the idea of having JavaScript run rampant with Ajax.

I totally understand the concerns however, I have a couple of comments:

  • JavaScript and Ajax isn’t the problem. It is how you deal with it. For too long JavaScript == ‘for the web developer to hack away’. We do need tools, and we need practices to help manage them. I would love a clean way to declare “this JavaScript wants to import FooModule version 2.3″ and it is all managed for me (for example).
  • Don’t use the technology for the sake of it. Compare the effort to your other choices. E.g. look at Google Suggest. Would it be better for them to have a FLASH version to do the work? or use Ajax?
  • Frameworks will be here to help. A lot of components can be written to grok this technology so you don’t have to write the JavaScript. We will just have richer widgets.
  • XMLHttpRequest isn’t new!

Development is all about tradeoffs. I think that there are situations where the correct tradeoffs mean that Ajax is a good solution.

One Response to “RE: AJaX: Two steps forward… Two steps back?”

  1. DionEnemy Says:

    Any two line titles do not display properly. For example, look at Google Golden topic. Duh, Dion…

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