AJAX Is X-TREME!

Author’s Note: I actually wrote this back in 2006, but it kind of fell through the cracks. So I present it now, for your amusement/pleasure/whatever…

The term “Web 2.0” has become synonymous with AJAX. With the hype and buzz that’s surrounded “Web 2.0”, people seem to invent reasons for using it. Even when it makes no sense. Sometimes especially when it makes no sense. Just because it’s “cool!”

Oh yes, AJAX is cool. It can really enhance the user experience of your application. And yes, you can do some interesting single page applications that don’t require a server. But hopefully you’re not quite as gung-ho about it as Charlie here (from the comic above). Rails makes it easy to use AJAX. Really easy. Too easy? Perhaps. And occasionally even I’ve been sucked into the trap of throwing out a quick, AJAXified, solution rather than taking the time to build it right, to build it compatible with the “Web 1.0” (or non-JavaScript enabled) folks. But I shouldn’t have. And neither should you.

That, Charlie, is a good question. In my next post I’ll talk a bit about Comatose, and how I went about ensuring that it’s backward compatible with non-JavaScript enabled browsers.

Author’s Other Note: I will post the second part to this soon… Probably next week. Cheers.