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OReilly Adding Ajax (2007)
by
Shelley Powers

Contents of This Book
This book does not require you to start from the beginning and read it all the way to
the end. I’ve tried to make each chapter as standalone as possible. Having said that,
there is some small degree of building on a previous chapter’s work, primarily in the
use of an Adding Ajax library that is created as the book proceeds. However, all of
the material is included in the downloadable examples. I would, however, recommend
that you read Chapters 1 and 2 before you read any other chapters.
The following is a brief synopsis of each chapter:

Chapter 1, Getting Ready to Make a Move to Ajax
Provides an overview of the Ajax technologies, but also covers the importance of
developing a strategy for change to your site before sitting down to code. It covers
the importance of discovering your audience and provides tips on how you
can accomplish this task. It also covers the importance of standards and making
sure you have a good, solid web page before you begin to add any Ajax effects.
Once you’ve read this chapter, you’re ready to add any of the Ajax effects covered
in the later chapters.

Chapter 2, The Ajax Bits
Provides a nuts-and-bolts coverage of the heart and soul of Ajax: how to work
with the XMLHttpRequest object. In this chapter, I cover how to request a web service
using both a GET and a POST request, as well as how to use dynamic
scripting for cross-domain data requests. As for types of data, I cover HTML,
XML, as well as the newer JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). I also discuss the
asynchronous nature of Ajax requests and cover some of the potential gotchas
and performance issues.

Chapter 3, Ajax Tools and Terminology
Introduces and demonstrates several of the more important Ajax libraries,
including Prototype, script.aculo.us, Rico, MochiKit, and so on. Though most of
the examples don’t use an external library, each chapter does have a sprinkling
of examples using some of the libraries so that you can become familiar with the
effect, learn how to extend libraries, package your own libraries, and discover
some of interesting challenges associated with multilibrary Ajax development.
Chapter 4, Interactive Effects

Gets into the interactive element that is Ajax, including how to work with events
and event handlers that works across browsers, and what works if more than
one library is used. In addition, we’ll look at building tool tips, pulling in help
data from external sources, creating an Ajax “fade” to signal changes, live previews,
and merging live previews with live updates.

Chapter 5, Space: The Final Frontier
Explores the concept of web page as space, and covers three popular approaches
to managing web space. These include the accordion, where space is collapsed
vertically; the tabbed page, where pages are served when tabs are clicked; and
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the overlay, where the page is overlayed with a message, photo, or other material.
This chapter also explores how to package complete “effects” so that one
library can provide effects for any number of applications and pages. This chapter
also looks at how these effects can be integrated with web service requests.

Chapter 6, Dynamic Data
This is a real nuts-and-bolts chapter. It gets into how to make data updates,
including adding new data, deleting, and making updates, all from within a single
page. It focuses on extending existing web applications so that form updates
and Ajax updates coexist harmoniously. It also incorporates the use of “fades” to
add polish and feedback to your application users. Some of the performance and
security issues associated with database access through Ajax are also covered, as
is the use of “live” updates and effects like drag-and-drop sorting.

Chapter 7, History, Navigation, and Place with Single-Page Applications
This is where we explore the Ajax effects on the Web, including breaking the
Back button, losing the browser history, dynamic effects that disappear when the
page is refreshed, and being able to link or bookmark an Ajax “page.” In this
chapter, we explore the approaches that can be taken to restore much of the lost
web effects, and we will develop a better sense of how far we can take Ajax and
still keep the best part of the Web.

Chapter 8, Adding Advanced Visual Effects
This chapter is pure fun. We’ve worked hard and now we can take out the paintbrush
and fingerpaint set and go wild. This chapter covers some advanced CSS
effects, including drag-and-drop “scrollbars,” pagination, and the use of SVG,
and the Canvas object. Though the support for the latter two items is not universal,
support is growing and if used to supplement data presented in more traditional
ways, can be both fun and effective.

Chapter 9, Mashup Your Site
Explores mashups. One of the most powerful aspects of Ajax is the ability to
bring in web services, our own and others, and combine the data in any number
of ways directly in our web pages. This chapter takes maps from Google, photo
information from Flickr, and weblog information from Technorati, mashes it all
up in a nice tabbed page interface, and then shows how all of that can be implemented
in such a way that it works whether scripting is enabled or not.

Chapter 10, Scaling, Infrastructure, and Starting from Scratch
This chapter is both the long breath after the many code examples and a second
look at issues of performance, architecture, and security. Privacy of web services
is touched on, as well as distributing resource needs and how tightly coupled
you want your server and client components to be. The chapter also looks at
starting Ajax from scratch by briefly introducing some of the many frameworks
available in so many languages: Java, .NET, PHP, Perl, Ruby, Python, and so on.

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