Software As She’s Developed

Full drafts are now online for the two big Web Remoting patterns: XMLHttpRequest Call and IFrame Call. There are also a couple of new demos to illustrate GETting and POSTing with both call types: XMLHttpRequest Example, IFrame Example. A few extracts follow, but first, let me ask you: Do you know of any public IFrame remoting […]

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Recent Ajax apps like Kiko are sluggish according to Alexander Kirk’s “Rise of Slow Ajax Applications (via AjaxDeveloper): Pages get more voluminous because so much code has to be loaded to the browser (which makes the browser slow again) so you could just begin to use the application. This somehow reminds me of all […]

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Further to the previous post on new Ajax programming patterns, it’s also worth noting there’s a new bunch of corresponding online Ajax demos too. Being programming patterns, they tend to be “pure refactorings” rather than enhancements, thus the user experience is mostly the same - you have to look under the covers to see what’s […]

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I’ve uploaded full text for 18 new Ajax patterns, completing a first-cut draft for all Programming Patterns content, which will be one part of the book. This section bridges the gap between the very basics of Ajax - XMLHttpRequest, DOM, etc - and the high-level stuff like widgets and visual effects. For instance, how do […]

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Scott Isaacs on a new Start.com feature (quoted on Ajaxian): DHTML-based Gadgets: Start.com consumes DHTML-based components called Gadgets. These Gadgets can be created by any developer, hosted on any site, and consumed into the Start.com experience. The model is completely distributed. You can develop components derived from other components on the web. Remote portlets take […]

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Andrew Sutherland offers a few Ajax Gotchas/Tips. I’ll add some comments. Escape content with encodeURIComponent() which is superior to escape. XMLHttpRequest’s readyState tells you how far the request has progressed. MM: If you’re confused about readyState’s transition from 0 to 4, you have good reason to be. Read the recent posting and comments on David Flanagan’s blog, and […]

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I’ve noticed that I’ve recently habitualised the Yellow Fade Technique, or what the Ajax patterns refer to as One-Second Spotlight. The typical Fade example is a form field. When you change it, the field is suddenly highlighted, then gradually fades back to its original form. This tells the user that “the computer” knows something’s happened, and […]

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Has anyone else noticed the Ajaxian “Register for Interest” pattern sported by the new-skool stealth startups? The new Firefox+++ project, Flock (via Ajaxian) is doing it right now. Essentially, “This is happening in a few weeks, leave your mail, we won’t spam you, and we’ll tell you about it.” I submit my email. Then the page morphs […]

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First, a quick update on yesterday’s book anouncement: Thanks for your interest. Yes, it will be published as a physical book. In the O’Reilly animal format. And no, I don’t know which animal. Periodic Refresh is a pattern where the page runs a loop to continuously grab fresh data from the server (Ajaxify Time Demo). As that […]

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I’m pleased to announce the in-progress patterns at ajaxpatterns.org will be completed and published as an O’Reilly book: “Ajax Design Patterns”. The accompanying podcast explains the details, here’s a summary: I’ll be completing full-text descriptions for all the listed patterns, give or take some restructuring. ajaxpatterns.org will remain online, with full content - before, during and […]

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