Interactive Web sites with dynamic content are a must for any organization. But refreshing an entire page to update just a few pieces of dynamic content can make an interactive page seem, well, unresponsive. How do you update your dynamic content without reloading the static pieces? Enter Asynchronous JavaScript and XML—a mechanism to obviate a full-page refresh. Ajax makes Web sites feel more interactive by updating only the dynamic content, such as newsfeeds and stock quotes. With Ajax, pages load faster during updates and use fewer system resources. The technology has gone live in Google Maps and other popular Web sites. When you click and drag a Google map, you trigger a document request, which updates the map but doesn't refresh the page's static elements.
展开▼
