AJAX is the next step in the evolution of modern web design. It’s a technology which takes a boring, static web page and adds a rich set of tools which allows content to change without reloading the page. The kind of functionality AJAX brings are things like validating form data without reloading the page, drag and drop, and complex animation.

Why use AJAX? You can do the same things with Flash, Java, and more recently, Silverlight. The problem with these technologies is that search engines can’t index content built with them. While a Flash web site can be very impressive, all of the content will be ignored by search spiders because all that it sees is a single Flash file. AJAX sites can experience similar problems, but careful design will take into consideration SEO (search engine optimization).

I have to admit that the number of quality books on AJAX out there is lacking. There are many books available, but they tend to read like reference manuals which is useful once you understand the technology. Getting to the point where you know AJAX is where the challenge lies. Packt Publishing solve this problem with their book, AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications.

This book quickly gets you up to speed with integrating AJAX code with your PHP web site, and then proceeds to build useful real world examples and applications that you can use in your own web sites. They include form validation, guessing user input with suggest and autocomplete, and of course, implementing drag and drop.

Rows and columns of data are normally displayed to the user in a table, but the reader is shown how to turn this into AJAX grid. Content can then be changed without the typical “page flash” associates with non-AJAX forms when you submit the form.

AJAX and PHP also provides basic examples on how to implement a chat room, an RSS reader, and how to create real-time graphical chart. While graphics programming is not my forte, including this in your application can definitely add value to it.

Overall, AJAX and PHP: Building Responsive Web Applications, is an excellent book for learning AJAX. Even though it is written with PHP examples, the principles can be transferred to any web technology. ASP.NET AJAX programmers would even benefit from this book by learning the root technologies behind the AJAX Visual Studio controls.

Order the book today from Amazon and take your web sites to the next level.

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