Chapter 1. What Is AJAX?

In this chapter

	1.1 Rich Internet Applications	page 4
	1.2 AJAX Defined	page 5
	1.3 Technologies of AJAX	page 7
	1.4 Remote Scripting	page 9
	1.5 Gmail Brings XMLHttpRequest into the Mainstream	page 9
	1.6 New Name: AJAX	page 12
	1.7 Summary	page 12

Web 2.0, Rich Internet Application (RIA), Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX) are terms that explain some of the new technologies that are changing the World Wide Web. These changes focus on the user experience instead of just on the technology, and this collective focus will create the next version of the Web.

This chapter examines these terms, defines them, and looks at their basic composition. The main focus is AJAX because it is the technology that makes the others possible. A short history is provided to give you the context into which AJAX fits. In addition, the chapter discusses some reasons why AJAX didn't take off before 2005 even though the technical obstacles were solved years before. This chapter concludes with an overview of Google's Gmail, gives an overview of the various AJAX features it uses, and shows how Gmail brought AJAX to the mainstream.