Bulletproof Ajax

6. Ajax Challenges

Dodging Bullets

Ajax allows you to explore new forms of interaction. Instead of being tied to the page-based model of requests and responses, you are now free to add more discrete, focused interactivity to your Web sites. This is exciting, but it is also potentially dangerous.

Change can be scary. While it is tempting to sweep away everything that has come before and replace it with shiny new Ajax-powered interfaces, this would be a mistake. Your users would not thank you for it. It is unrealistic to expect people to feel instantly comfortable in a brave new Web.

Users have expectations that are built upon conventions. Ajax breaks some of those conventions. That means that Ajax messes with user expectations, which is rarely ...