Hidden iFrame Basics

Comet, lauded as the next generation of Ajax is getting a lot of interests lately as the browser capabilities (and competition) is pushing the user experience to the next level.

The familiarity of Ajax is already established among developers which mean pushing for more techniques to improve users’ experience is needed. Innovation always has a way of finding something new and more efficient. Comet is still on its early phase but the initial features are very promising.

The key to the success of Comet is its powerful use of hidden iframes. The “I” in this word refers to “inline” which will automatically give you an idea on how hidden frame would be implemented.

In gist, the hidden iframe allow developers push for data instead of the usual polling provided by Ajax. Push is considered a lot more aggressive compared to polling since the data will come straight from the server instead of events placed in the client side for Ajax.

The “inline frame” in Comet will allow developers add more layers to their online application. Instead of a mash-up of different programming languages, it will allow one more layer of the same programming language.

HTML over HTML

Comet will not necessarily ask for two layers of JavaScript to push for data. It will still use simple JavaScript but its data push should never be considered ordinary. The HTML portion of the programming technique could be added with another layer of HTML.

This means inside HTML that could be used for cosmetic display of the online application will contain another HTML which will take care of the data. This should be very efficient since JavaScript will just take care of the processes instead of containing additional data which could be heavy for the user’s end.

By using HTML developers will not only enjoy the simplicity of HTML but could tap another source of processing power – the native browser. Instead of simply using the server and creating plug-ins for the browser to interpret JavaScript, developers could use the local gadget to speed up the process.

Surprising Browsers

Developers for Comet are also bolder in trying out some online applications today because today’s browsers have been updated to deal with this technology. This is a totally different scenario compared to Ajax. Back then browsers are not capable in dealing with Ajax but they learned quickly which increases the adaptability of Comet to current browsers.

Errors for Now

But Comet could be considered at its early phase since the errors and inconveniences encountered could be very difficult.

The common inconvenience developers have to deal with Comet today is the inability to track the push progress of the browser. Since Comet continuously streams data, monitoring could take up a lot of hardware requirements. This creates an additional problem when an error occurs. Targeting the specific error would be very challenging since the progress cannot be actively monitored.

But even with the challenges, Comet is slowly improving. It is getting more powerful every update and will eventually gain more developers.