Ajax is a term used to describe an approach to designing and implementing web applications. An acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML is a group of interrelated web development techniques used on the client-side to create interactive web applications. The term was first introduced in an article by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path, a web-design firm based out of San Francisco.
With Ajax, web applications can retrieve data from the server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. They consists of a number of applications used in conjunction to create a more seamless experience. This includes Extensible HTML (XHTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for building the underlying page structure and its visual style, respectively; some sort of interaction suite using the Document Object Model; data manipulation using Extensible Markup Language (XML); data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest; and JavaScript to help these different elements interact with one another.
The use of Ajax techniques has led to an increase in interactive or dynamic interfaces on web pages. Google Maps and Google Search, for example, in many ways epitomizes the ethos of the AJAX model, with its complex functionality and virtually seamless interactivity. The data is usually retrieved using the XMLHttpRequest object. Despite the name, the use of XML is not actually required, nor do the requests need to be asynchronous.
Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a group of technologies. Ajax uses a combination of HTML and CSS to mark up and style information. The DOM is accessed with JavaScript to dynamically display, and to allow the user to interact with the information presented. JavaScript and the XMLHttpRequest object provide a method for exchanging data asynchronously between browser and server to avoid full page reloads.
AJAX has its share of detractors however, one of which is the fact that in many cases it breaks some expected functionality, such as the use of the back button, causing confusion. While some fixes exist for many of these breaks, they are rarely implemented to the extent that the behavior of an AJAX application conforms to the expected behavior of the larger browser.
Several Ajax applications are available free of charge for web devolopers as well as tutorials. There is also a high abundance of Ajax shopping cart applications some of which you can try for free.
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket With jQuery And PHP
This is a detailed tutorial posted at Web Resources Depot which shows creating an unobtrusive Ajaxed shopping cart using jQuery & PHP and can guide you to Ajaxify any e-commerce software you may already be using or coding.
The main functions of the cart are adding/removing items to the basket without the need of refreshing the page & displaying the actions with effects.
Ajaxed Add-To-Basket
Tutorial
Creating A Slick Ajaxed Add-To-Basket With jQuery And PHP
For an e-commerce website, this can mean a better shopping experience for customers where they can concentrate more on the products which may result in better sales.
This is a detailed tutorial which shows creating an unobtrusive Ajaxed shopping cart using jQuery & PHP and can guide you to Ajaxify any e-commerce software you may already be using or coding.
