LebGeeks

mahdoum

Member

Ajax

Who has ever used AJAX in their web application? or just knows how to use it?

rolf

Member

Re: Ajax

The only place I have ever used AJAX is in my washing mashine.
As far as I know you need to put 2 measures of poweder in the machine and that's it.

Miih mih mih ...

mahdoum

Member

Re: Ajax

lol ya beikh

NewBie

Member

Re: Ajax

I'm working with the Atlas project for .net for a school project and it is good!!!! 

It makes the usr experience much more powerful.  Say bye bye to page refresh.

samer

Admin

Re: Ajax

i've used it in http://www.vote961.com/lebanon-news.php ; And maybe the upcoming LebGeeks V3 (announcing it soon)

robert

Member

Re: Ajax

Hello Samer,

You used AJAX on your voting site without verifying browser compatibility: it doesn't work with Opera.

For such a site, AJAX is utterly useless: it's a small and simple site that can use a simple, normal navigation. Plus, the back button confuses the visitor: make sure you fix that bug.

Personally, I've used AJAX in my web projects: it can enhance user experience when used properly, but it still has a lot, a lot of bugs.

I think I include some AJAX snippets in my latest project: http://www.bluleb.com ; a Lebanese portal.

But I made sure I don't use it excessively. Here are some of my favorite AJAX-related sites:

http://www.papermountain.org/demos/live/
http://www.sergiopereira.com/articles/prototype.js.html
http://www.turboajax.com/
http://mondaybynoon.com/2006/03/27/suck … rlightbox/
http://openrico.org/
http://particletree.com/features/degrad … alidation/
http://www.maxkiesler.com/index.php/des … lview/506/
http://ajaxpatterns.org/
http://www.huddletogether.com/projects/lightbox/
http://blog.html.it/layoutgala/
http://mike.teczno.com/giant/pan/
http://josephscott.org/code/js/eip/example.html
http://julian.empiregn.com/2005-11/Easi … s_to_AJAX/
http://dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex17/ … /index.htm
http://dojotoolkit.org/
http://archive.dojotoolkit.org/nightly/demos/widget/
http://www.cyberdummy.co.uk/
http://www.ajaxprojects.com/ajax/viewca … tegoryid=8
http://www.petefreitag.com/item/515.cfm
http://www.dhtmlgoodies.com/index.html?page=ajax
http://www.parkerriver.com/ajaxhacks/
http://www.captain.at/howto-ajax-form-post-get.php
http://www.easy-designs.net/books/WDN3/27/Ajax1/
http://www.napyfab.com/ajax-indicators/
http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/javascript/ajax.html
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/gett … edwithajax

I have lots more, and have been into this emerging technology lately.

Robert

P.S. : Samer, this forum needs javascript debugging!

samer

Admin

Re: Ajax

Hey Robert, welcome to the forum!

You used AJAX on your voting site without verifying browser compatibility: it doesn't work with Opera.

I have to say, the project has been put online in "no-time", and I did not have the time to check for cross-browsing compatibility. But quite frankly, I doubt that more than 1% of Lebanese internet users (those that are intended to vote) are using Opera as their prime browser. 

For such a site, AJAX is utterly useless: it's a small and simple site that can use a simple, normal navigation.

What you say is partially right, I could have chosen not to use AJAX there but the whole point was enhancing the user experience by providing a "simplier" more "desktop-application-like" experience to the users, and using AJAX was a good way to do it.

P.S. : Samer, this forum needs javascript debugging!

It renders correctly on Opera and Firefox. I noticed that IE is giving an error (after you pointed it out) - i'm going to check it out ASAP.

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback Robert.
Good day,

PS: we have the same age ;-)

samer.

mahdoum

Member

Re: Ajax

Hey Robert thanx I really appreciate the list of ajax links  great stuff.

Just checked out your portal and I'm impressed I like the design nice minimalistic feel to it :)

rolf

Member

Re: Ajax

Oh so ajax is the javascript technology to partially update pages, used by google maps and the likes.
I alway hated the javascript concept of modifying the html code without being able to see the result... it's a nightmare to debug.  I'm afrad that AJAX will make it even less debuggable... unless there is an IDE out there with very good debugging capacities for javascript that I havent heard of.

robert

Member

Re: Ajax

Hello Samer, mahdoum,

Just gonna post some quick answers to your replies:

I have to say, the project has been put online in "no-time", and I did not have the time to check for cross-browsing compatibility. But quite frankly, I doubt that more than 1% of Lebanese internet users (those that are intended to vote) are using Opera as their prime browser.

Well, Samer: first of all, you have to make sure your website is accessible to ALL users; and second, Opera is on the rise: many people I know are trying it out and permanently switching.

What you say is partially right, I could have chosen not to use AJAX there but the whole point was enhancing the user experience by providing a "simplier" more "desktop-application-like" experience to the users, and using AJAX was a good way to do it.

Well, I can tell you, users don't feel in a desktop-like application on your site. I guess you used AJAX as a first try. Did you write the javascript yourself or did you use snippets? You can get stable cross-browser scripts here: http://www.parkerriver.com/ajaxhacks/ , http://ajaxpatterns.org/

Yeah, the forum's great on Opera and Firefox, but IE is a problem. I used to get that alert on Bluleb, but successfully debugged.

Just checked out your portal and I'm impressed I like the design nice minimalistic feel to it

Yeah, it's just a beta intended to fit in "Web 2.0 style"; it was a quick site, I haven't promoted it yet: my partners are maintaining it, I'm into a new, much larger project now.

Anyway, I appreciate the feedback Robert.

Sure, no problem.

PS: we have the same age ;-)

Really? You're 16? I'd like to meet you. Email me!

Robert

samer

Admin

Re: Ajax

Well, Samer: first of all, you have to make sure your website is accessible to ALL users; and second, Opera is on the rise: many people I know are trying it out and permanently switching.

As I have already said, It wasn't worth spending additional time hacking the script for cross-browser compatibility (since "I doubt more 1% of lebanese net users use Opera as their primary browser, and that more than 0.1% have only Opera installed)

I wrote it partially, some of it was "borrowed".

Yeah, the forum's great on Opera and Firefox, but IE is a problem. I used to get that alert on Bluleb, but successfully debugged.

Aha, but it is not causing any usability problem. Anyway, i'm gonna' debug it ASAP.

mahdoum

Member

Re: Ajax

Oh so ajax is the javascript technology to partially update pages, used by google maps and the likes.
I alway hated the javascript concept of modifying the html code without being able to see the result... it's a nightmare to debug.  I'm afrad that AJAX will make it even less debuggable... unless there is an IDE out there with very good debugging capacities for javascript that I havent heard of.

Yup ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML, it's really a usefull way of doing things and sometimes it is hell to debug, javascript isn't particullary good at it anyway :s Anyway it only gets as complicated as you want it to be ;)

robert

Member

Re: Ajax

Hello again,

As I have already said, It wasn't worth spending additional time hacking the script for cross-browser compatibility (since "I doubt more 1% of lebanese net users use Opera as their primary browser, and that more than 0.1% have only Opera installed)

AS I HAVE ALREADY SAID, Opera is on the rise, mate. Better take of that AJAX if you want a potential site.

See ya,

Robert

mahdoum

Member

Re: Ajax

Dude what he's saying is right, Opera is on the rise in the world... and not as much in Lebanon, Although I'm a proud opera user. Btw I didnt have any issues with the voting system i don't see what your on about... maybe identify the browser as IE will fix a few issues

samer

Admin

Re: Ajax

Hehe, exactly robert. I don't want a `potential site`. It was just a little project.