Ajax Design Approach

Creating Ajax based software and websites takes sometime in planning alone. Right from the start, you have to choose which approach or technique you have to follow to ensure the design is created on time and as expected. Here are some of the known designs:

1. The DIY Approach – when you’re planning something simple for a small business or a simple Ajax add-on to your website, this approach is perfect for you. Ajax is actually a collection of languages being put together so you can build the program yourself. If you are an expert with JavaScript, XML and HTTP, you can easily create a program yourself. The advantages if this is that you’ll have full control of your created program however, you have to think twice about this approach when you are created a very complicated program. There are tools for checking but coding alone will take some time if everything has to be coded manually.
2. Using the Client Side JavaScript Library – When you’re confronted with something more complicated, you can at least unload the client side of the coding to some of the available libraries. Dojo and Script.aculo.us are among the most popular libraries used by developers. These libraries provide codes so that you won’t have to write the program yourself. From drag-and-drop and other functionalities familiar with Ajax, you’ll be able to use these libraries. All you need to do is to embed the XMLHttpRequest or the relative command from the client to the server. Since it’s prepackaged, you need to have more than regular understand how JavaScript and generally Ajax works.
3. Taking Advantage of the Client-Server Framework – if you’re not familiar with JavaScript at all, you can still create a good Ajax based programs. The most popular so far in this technology is JSF or JavaServer Faces. Once you load JSF to your server, you just need to customize the application so that it could function according to your specification. Although at face value this is relatively easy and could be really effective. There are still considerations you need to remember. As this will totally take over your plan, you have to make sure JSF will cover what you need. Even though you don’t need to learn about JavaScript, you have to be more than familiar with HTML to effectively implement the program. Client-Server Framework also doesn’t cover most of the Client side functions which could be provided by Client Side JavaScript.
4. Using Java Technology – this is perfect for those who are experts in Java. Even though Java and JavaScript almost sounds the same, they are in no way related to each other. But instead of relearning JavaScript for Ajax, developers might want to get help from Google. The Google Web Toolkit (GWT) was specifically designed for developers who can create Java. GWT accepts the Java commands and translates the Java into JavaScript. The result is a good looking Ajax based website.

There are other approaches that you can consider such as the combination of Client-Server and Client Side Library or using Remoting Frameworks. But the above mentioned are the basic approaches in building efficient Ajax based programs.