Client Side Storage

Client side storage is an essential aspect of Ajax. Since this programming technique is a client side application, the data streamed to the user will be stored in the same area in the form of cache. This is a form of client side storage which greatly helps developers and users access the previously visited website.

Instead of reloading the webpage, the stored data on the client side will be reloaded. Since it does not require internet connection, the old webpage will load faster. This client side storage also helps Ajax in dealing with the “back” button concerns wherein some websites do not offer the “back” option. With client side storage, the data is saved and the possibility of returning to the previously visited website is observed.

More than Ajax

The challenge of client side storage is not only found in Ajax. This concern is also considered by developers who use other programming languages but eventually deals with the client side. A few years ago, the client side storage concern is only dealt with developers of Ajax, JavaScript, Java and Flash.

Now, developers have to deal with Adobe AIR, FLEX and Silverlight as part of the above mentioned client side programming languages. Although AIR, FLEX and Silverlight are proprietary programming languages, the solution would still come from developers.

Browser Incompatibility

Aside from the difficult in client side storage with regards to different solutions for client side programming languages, the persistent browser incompatibility still exists. Developers can’t just force users to transfer to another browser just because the function will not work with the developer’s browser.

Of course this can happen in an office setting wherein everyone could be asked to comply with the requirement, but if you’re building an online application to entice users and profit from it, you need to create multiple browser commands.

The following are the behavior of browsers with regards to client side storage:

IE (Before IE8) – taps the userData Function
Firefox (from 2.0) – using the simpler DOM storage
Safari – uses the function openDatabase

Clearly, developers have to consider each browsers reaction to client side storage or else the application will only work in one browser or none at all.

Plug-ins and Frameworks

Until each browser agrees to a single solution to client side storage coding, developers will most likely end up with plug-ins and frameworks to deal with this problem. There are a good number of frameworks and plug-ins that could help developers deal with client side storage. Their usual process is automatically detecting the browser and automatically creating the functions so that it could create the client side storage.

But although they are simple to integrate, plug-ins and frameworks would limit the function of developers. There are still a lot of things a developer could change in the client side storage so that it will behave according to the specification of developers. But that’s the trade off every developer has to think of if they wanted to simplify their application and speed up the development process.