A blend of well-known technologies and a nifty JavaScript tool form the basis of a snappier and more powerful application model for the Web. If you're afraid of acronym overload, don't worrythis one's easy. It's called Ajax, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.
Remember when users called the Internet the "world wide wait?" Way back in the Neolithic era of the Web? With some applications, that aspect of the Web hasn't really changed that much: fill out form, click button, web page goes away, wait, page refreshes, correct mistake, click, wait, wait... You've been stuck in this limbo before.
The "single-page application" represented by Ajax, with client/server connections that do not interrupt the user's experience and dynamically change elements in different web page regions, is appropriate for numerous uses, such as blogs, learning tools, online newsletters, and small web portals or communities. Many of these types of sites are already built using Ajax techniques. Ajax can also improve the user experience in large web-based client/server applications that extend beyond the single-page model.
Ajax, a term coined in 2005 to describe the combination of a group of popular web technologies, has been an instant hit in the software world. Instant success can raise many doubts, but it would be a mistake to view this software model as simply the latest "next big thing" to make a big splash and then vanish into the ether of the Web.