| A quite revolution is transforming the way people interact and function. New, agile web software such as ajax now allows you to work smart and fast on the internet… |
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Web-based tools make computing less of a chore because they sit on distant Web servers and run over standard browsers. Users dont have to worry about installing software or moving data when they switch computers. Ajax, a set of Web development tools that speeds up Web applications by summoning snippets of data as needed instead of pulling entire Web pages over and over, makes this possible. Microsoft invented Ajax in the late 90s and has used it for years to power an online version of Outlook e-mail Program.
Ajaxs resurgence in recent months is thanks partly to its innovative use by Google to fundamentally change online mapping. Before, maps were static: Click on a left arrow, wait a few seconds as the Web page reloads and see the map shift slightly to the left. Repeat. Repeat again. "Its slow. Its frustrating," said frequent map user Fred Wagner, a petroleum engineer in Houston. "Were all getting spoiled with wanting things to happen."
So he sticks with Google Maps these days. There, he can drag the map over any which way and new areas fill in instantly. He can even zoom in quickly using an Ajax slider. No more World Wide Wait. "Everybody went, Ooooh, how did they do that?" said Steve Yen, who runs a company developing an Ajax spreadsheet called Num Sum. "It turns out the technologys been there for awhile." Jesse Garrett, an Adaptive Path LLC usability strategist who publicly coined the term Ajax 10 days after Google Maps launched in February, said such examples "convinced a lot of Web designers to take another look at something they may have previously dismissed as experimental."
Also contributing are faster Internet connections, more powerful computers and better browsers to handle Ajax, which is short for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Consider e-mail. Until recently, Web mail meant sending forms back and forth online. Check an item to delete and hit a button. A remote mail server receives instructions and responds with an entirely new page, which is missing only the one deleted item. Enter Yahoo! and an interface it is testing using technology from Oddpost, an Ajax pioneer. Delete an item this time, and Ajax reconfigures the page immediately with-out waiting for a response.
Open a message to read, and the browser fetches only the messages body-it already has the subject line and other header information and doesnt have to waste time duplicating that data. Microsoft, which uses Ajax in a new map offering and an upcoming Hotmail upgrade, is even starting to build new tools to promote Ajax development-even as it pushes a next-gen alternative.
The alternative technology, known as XAML, will permit even richer applications over browsers. Alas, unlike Ajax, it will run only on Windows computers-no Macs, no Linux. Scott Guthrie, who oversees the Microsoft Ajax tools called Atlas, believes Ajax has a future but will not replace software that actually sits on local computers. "Ultimately when you want to write a word processing document or manage a large spreadsheet, you are going to want the capabilities... that are very difficult to provide on the Web today," Guthrie said.
Computer-intensive applications like Adobe Systems Photoshop image editor and high-end games wont come to browsers anytime soon. Even Google had to create desktop mapping software, called Google Earth and requiring a download, to permit 3-D and advanced features. Other limitations are intentional. For security reasons, a browser cannot seamlessly access files or other programs on a computer. And, of course, Web applications require a persistent Internet connection-making work difficult at times. Among other criticisms, developer tools for Ajax arent as mature as those for one of its chief rivals, Macromedia Incs Flash. And many Ajax programs dont work well beyond Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.
Yet Web-based applications are increasingly appealing- and people are already used to sharing calendars and other similar data with friends and relatives. Ajax can make those experiences richer.
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