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The Wave of the Future: AJAX
February 11, 2007
E-Commerce sites continue to expect their customers to wait what seems like an eternity for an entire webpage to load if a customer changes what they want to see or buy. For savvy internet users (which are almost everyone these days) a wait of even a few seconds can be a huge frustration swaying them to shop somewhere else. To avoid such lost sales, businesses have become familiar with using AJAX when building web applications.
So, what is AJAX and what can it do for your jewelry store’s website?
What is AJAX?
AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. In layman’s terms, it works like this: Say a jewelry store wants to make it easier for customers to create their perfect engagement ring. On an AJAX-designed site, each time a customer clicks on a different diamond shape; it simply pulls up a new image or object, instead of loading an entirely new page.
What are some examples of AJAX?
- Google Maps. Zoom in. Use your cursor to grab the map and scroll around a bit. Everything happens almost instantly, with no waiting for pages to reload.
- Amazon’s Diamond Tool. Simply slide the cursor across the smaller pictures below the image that is open and see each view of the diamond ring change right before your eyes.
- Blue Nile. Pick the shape and price range of a diamond (I selected Rd from $5-7,000). On the next page, roll your mouse over any diamond below and see a pop-up appear to the left with the diamonds characteristics.
- Overstock. Move your cursor on the smaller images of the diamond pendant—the pendant appears to zoom in without opening in a new window. With AJAX, the page can request that single image in whatever size is required then display it without reloading the page.
How does AJAX work?
Basically, Asynchronous applications can do more than one thing at a time. For example, “You don’t expect your screen to go blank whenever you hit the save button in Microsoft Word, but in Web-based applications it’s always been a case of having to wait for an entirely new page every time you perform any operation,” Tim Stevens, Inc Technology. In addition, Microsoft Outlook users take for granted that they can drag an e-mail message into a folder, but that's not possible right now with Web-based e-mail clients like MSN Hotmail. AJAX performs functions by using a bunch of already popular technologies such as XML, HTML, JavaScript, and the XMLHttpRequest object to make quick updates without refreshing the page for every change made by the user.
What are the benefits of using AJAX?
- Performance. WebPages are much more responsive when they don’t need to be completely reloaded after every click. Quick to respond WebPages are more effective and will make customers stay longer and, hopefully, buy.
- The User-Experience. The success of AJAX-based applications such as Google Maps over more traditional alternatives like MapQuest show that success can come to products that provide better user experience.
- Bandwidth Savings. For sites that experience a highly variable load, AJAX can mean fewer servers, lower bandwidth bills, and less risk of failure. This is a huge, public win for AJAX as a bandwidth optimization strategy.
Posted by Shanu Singh Guliani on February 11, 2007 | Comments (0)
