Learning jQuery: A Hands-on Guide to Building Rich Interactive Web Front Ends

1. Introduction

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), with their somewhat vaguely worded rich opportunities, have significantly changed the way we use the Web over the past few years. And the speed of this change keeps increasing. The significance of classic desktop applications is being repositioned. Many types of programs that were traditionally used only as desktop application now suddenly appear on the Web, be it personal calendars, entire office programs, games, route planners, or communication programs. But apps for cell phones or smartphones are also increasingly based on web technology. This changes both the user behavior and the user expectation for Internet applications in general and the availability of services. As classic web applications, ...