Ajax: Not only an “Eye Candy”

Joe Stagner, one of the leading developers for Microsoft, has laid-out Ajax in his own terms in his latest speech in the AjaxWorld Conference and Expo. The event is on its later stages in Santa Clara, Calif.

In his keynote speech, he stressed the importance of Ajax is not only the development of better interactivity but also in content. The advent of Ajax has clearly paved the way for better user experience as there are more and more Ajax based programs and websites are generated.

Some may have a good use and functionality while some are just there to show their prowess with the latest technique. We can’t really blame them as this program is fairly new, we have to explore what we can do and cannot do. You can look for some sites and enjoy the greater things that you can do. But the honeymoon stage of Ajax, showing its power in the internet and some program, has to end sometime.

“Eye-Candy” was the specific term Joe Stagner specifically used to remind the developers not just to create something cool to watch. The development should also be hand in hand with the information and practical use that could be provided with the use of Ajax. While there are websites being launched today with the practical use of Ajax, the development is still not there.

Take a look for example of AjaxWindows, it’s a web-based desktop that relies heavily on Ajax to run the program. It’s a great middleware considering you’ll be using your Gmail account as your “hard drive”. But if you’ve been in the website lately, it has encountered some problems with regards to accessing the information you have uploaded. Plus it relies heavily on the server-side to move the programs successfully.

Even though you can synch the files in your desktop to the virtual desktop, the time that it will be able to complete the synchronization is very slow. If you don’t have a 3Mbps connection, you better think twice before you synch some files. Stagner emphasized balance. It’s not just the server or the customer that should be handling the problem of hardware requirements but it should be in balance.  The functionality should also be balanced; instead of giving only an “eye-candy” why make it a little more interesting with more information?

As Joe Stagner says it, “"Meaningful, productive, forward looking AJAX is at core a balance," said Stagner. "A balance between client and server. A balance between commercial and open source. A balance between single platform and multiplatform. A balance between de facto and du jour standards.

A balance between well established and emerging technologies." The samples that Stagner chose are the pageflakes site and the Virtual Earth. Pageflakes is an Ajax based website wherein you can add “flakes” or little widgets to your personalized site.

These widgets could be news, games, podcasts or blogs while Virtual Earth is an online atlas with tons of information about the place. The internet is really taking in Ajax really fast but balance should always in mind as to preserve the servers and the client’s side of services.