AJAX, Acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML (asynchronous JavaScript and XML), is a web development technique for creating interactive applications or RIA (Rich Internet Applications).
Download the Manual and User Guide of AJAX
These applications run on the client, that is, on the user’s browser while maintaining asynchronous communication with the server in the background. In this way it is possible to make changes on the pages without the need to reload them, the interactivity, speed and usability in the applications.
Ajax is a combination of four existing technologies:
- XHTML (or HTML) and cascading style sheets (CSS) for the design that accompanies the information.
Document Object Model (DOM) accessed with a scripting language by the user, especially ECMAScript implementations such as JavaScript and JScript, to dynamically display and interact with the presented information. - The XMLHttpRequest object to exchange data asynchronously with the web server. In some frameworks and in some concrete situations, an objectiframe is used instead of the XMLHttpRequest to perform such exchanges. PHP is a general-purpose server-side script programming language originally designed for web development of dynamic content also used in the Ajax method.
- XML is the format generally used for the transfer of requested data to the server, although any format can work, including preformatted HTML, plain text, JSON and even EBML.
- Like DHTML, LAMP or SPA, Ajax is not a technology in itself, but rather a term that encompasses a group of them that work together.
