I share a similar discomfort with the term ajax as I do with DHTML. Back in the day we took the concept of HTML styled with CSS, made interactive with JavaScript and accessed through the Document Object Model, and termed it DHTML. This act alone made it easy to describe how those technologies could be used together for what was, at the time, innovative things.

The same is true of ajax. It stands of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, which in turn stands for look at me I’m a geek and you don’t understand what I’m saying. It does, however, give us a useful way of describing the whole xmlhttprequest thing and how JavaScript, XML, server-side code and out-of-process HTTP requests can interact with HTML to make interfaces a little more interactive/responsive.

We don’t use the term DHTML any more because what was innovative when the term was invented is every day now, and no one needs a generic term to describe that stuff. We all know how HTML, CSS, JavaScript and the DOM can be used together to manipulate the page because we’re all doing it every day. Plus it confuses recruitment agents. But I’m sure that there are already job specs in the hands of confused recruitment agents stating a requirement for ajax, and well, if it keeps the wheels turning then so be it. I’m sure the label will serve a purpose and then slip away. Who cares about names anyway.

Cool Ajax Stuff

It’s worth highlighting the fantastic effort that is being put into native support for ajax in Ruby on Rails. Those guys are busy building a web app framework that is not only quick and efficient, but is modern and effortless. One of the mail principals of their integration effort seems to be to make ajax a transparent design choice. If the design calls for ajax then it’s no more effort than traditional postbacks, you just flick the switch. These guys have got their heads screwed on.

Other news

I started a new job a few weeks back, and that’s been consuming a lot of cycles. I’m not good with change – I find it sometimes takes a while to acclimatise. I’m beginning to settle in, but I still need to work out the balance and make sure I’m not posting about stuff without due consideration to my new employer. Haven’t found my stride yet. I don’t feel like myself at the moment.

Emerging from the shower … but was it all a dream?