Provides information on creating AJAX Internet applications using JavaScript.

Ajax is short for “Asynchronous JavaScript+CSS+DOM+XMLHttpRequest.” Even if you weren’t intimidated before, that tidbit is probably enough to make you reach for the Excedrin. Just reach for Ajax For Dummies instead. With screen shots, actual code and explanations, and live Web sites where you can see Ajax applications doing their thing, it will have you using Ajax to create Web applications that look an act like desktop applications in no time. With Ajax, you can speed up and clean up your Web applications. Shoppers at your online store can fill their carts without waiting for multiple page refreshes. Searchers on your sites can get instant results on the same page. This guide takes you on a tour of how Ajax is used today, complete with examples of Ajax applications in action, such as an Ajax-enabled Yahoo! search or an Ajax-based chat application. Then it gives you basics on using JavaScript. After that you dive in and get info on: Writing some Ajax, interactive mouseovers using Ajax, passing data to the server with GET or POST, and more Connecting to Google for a live search Using free Ajax frameworks so you don’t have to start from scratch, including Ajax Gold (written specifically for this book), AJAXLib, and grabbing XML with libXmlRequest All kinds of Ajax techniques, such as using Ajax for drag-and-drop operations, pop-up menus, downloading images behind the scenes, and more Using SACK (simple AJAX code kit), decoding XML with Sarissa, and creating visual effects with Rico Handling XML int Ajax Applications Working with cascading style sheets (CCS) in Ajax, including setting up the styles, displaying a menu, styling text, handling colors and backgrounds, and more Working with Ajax and PHP Complete with a companion Web site, free Ajax frameworks, and sample code you can use, Ajax for Dummies is your friendly guide to creating truly user-friendly Web sites! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

In just a short time, you can learn how to use Ajax, JavaScript, and PHP to create interactive interfaces to your web applications by combining these powerful technologies. No previous Ajax programming experience is required. Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson in this book builds on the previous ones, enabling you to learn the essentials of Ajax programming with JavaScript, PHP, and related technologies from the ground up. Regardless of whether you run Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, the enclosed CD includes a complete Ajax programming starter kit that gives you all the programming tools, reference information, JavaScript libraries, and server software you need to set up a stable environment for learning, testing, and production. Learn how to… Build better, more interactive interfaces for your web applications Make JavaScript, HTML, XML, and PHP work together to create Ajax effects Compile an Ajax application Create and consume web services with SOAP and REST Avoid common errors and troubleshoot programs Use popular Ajax libraries to speed up and improve common programming tasks On the CD XAMPP for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux—an easy-to-install package to set up a PHP- and MySQL-enabled Apache server on your computer The jEdit programming editor for Windows, Mac, and Linux Prototype, Scriptaculous, Rico, and XOAD—popular JavaScript libraries for creating Ajax applications and effects A complete Ajax, HTML, XML, and PHP tutorial reference library in searchable PDF format Source code for the examples in the book Phil Ballard is a software engineering consultant and developer specializing in website and intranet design and development for an international portfolio of clients. He has an honors degree from the University of Leeds, England, and has worked for several years in commercial and managerial roles in the high technology sector. Michael Moncur is a freelance webmaster and author. He runs a network of websites and has written several bestselling books about web development, networking, certification programs, and databases. Category: Web Development Covers: Ajax, JavaScript and PHP User Level: Beginning–Intermediate

Performance is critical to the success of any web site, and yet today's web applications push browsers to their limits with increasing amounts of rich content and heavy use of Ajax. In this book, Steve Souders, web performance evangelist at Google and former Chief Performance Yahoo!, provides valuable techniques to help you optimize your site's performance. Souders' previous book, the bestselling High Performance Web Sites, shocked the web development world by revealing that 80% of the time it takes for a web page to load is on the client side. In Even Faster Web Sites, Souders and eight expert contributors provide best practices and pragmatic advice for improving your site's performance in three critical categories: JavaScript—Get advice for understanding Ajax performance, writing efficient JavaScript, creating responsive applications, loading scripts without blocking other components, and more. Network—Learn to share resources across multiple domains, reduce image size without loss of quality, and use chunked encoding to render pages faster. Browser—Discover alternatives to iframes, how to simplify CSS selectors, and other techniques. Speed is essential for today's rich media web sites and Web 2.0 applications. With this book, you'll learn how to shave precious seconds off your sites' load times and make them respond even faster. This book contains six guest chapters contributed by Dion Almaer, Doug Crockford, Ben Galbraith, Tony Gentilcore, Dylan Schiemann, Stoyan Stefanov, Nicole Sullivan, and Nicholas C. Zakas.

AJAX: fast mastery for experienced Web developers! Already an experienced Web developer? Apply your skills in today’s fastest-growing area of Web development: AJAX! Building on what you already know, this fast-paced guide will show you exactly how to create rich, usable Internet applications. Joshua Eichorn teaches through sophisticated code examples, including extensive server-side PHP code. You won’t just learn how to code AJAX applications: Eichorn covers the entire development lifecycle, from use cases and design through debugging. He also presents detailed application case studies, including a start-to-finish update of a non-AJAX application that addresses everything from feature improvements to changing usage patterns. Coverage includes: · How AJAX changes the conventional Web development cycle · Problems created by the AJAX paradigm -- and how to avoid them · Adding AJAX to existing Web applications: key considerations · Using core AJAX technologies, including the XMLHttpRequest object · Consuming data returned to an AJAX application using both XSLT and JSON · Building more usable AJAX applications: guidelines and downloadable resources · Use cases: solving real-world problems in the AJAX environment · Libraries and toolkits for simplifying AJAX development, including Sarissa, scriptaculous, and HTML_AJAX · A complete guide to AJAX debugging · Supporting browsers without XMLHttpRequest by using IFrames or cookies · JSON data encoding debugging guide, which covers tools for Firefox and Internet Explorer · A list of libraries, which includes PHP, .NET, Java, and other libraries that can be used with any server language

Enhance the user experience of your PHP website using AJAX with this practical tutorial featuring detailed case studies

A straightforward overview with minimum technical descriptions of the underlying networking principles, standards, applications and uses of the Internet. Understanding the Internet explains the underlying networking concepts, the protocols and standards which comprise the Internet, Internet trends and applications, the mobile Internet, security and the hidden Web. The Internet and World Wide Web are dramatically changing the world we live in and this book provides a holistic view of the Internet so that practitioners and users can more fully understand the concepts involved. - Written by a highly knowledgeable and well-respected practitioner in the field - Draws on the author's wide-ranging practical experience of developing web and mobile web applications and indeed teaching Internet technologies at a university for many years - Provides insight into how the Internet is put together and the novel applications which are currently residing on it

Professional Ajax 2nd Edition provides a developer-level tutorial of Ajax techniques, patterns, and use cases. The book begins by exploring the roots of Ajax, covering how the evolution of the web and new technologies directly led to the development of Ajax techniques. A detailed discussion of how frames, JavaScript, cookies, XML, and XMLHttp requests (XHR) related to Ajax is included. After this introduction, the book moves on to cover the implementation of specific Ajax techniques. Request brokers such as hidden frames, dynamic iframes, and XHR are compared and contrasted, explaining when one method should be used over another. To make this discussion clearer, a brief overview of HTTP requests and responses is included. Once a basic understanding of the various request types is discussed, the book moves on to provide in-depth examples of how and when to use Ajax in a web site or web application. Different data transmission formats, including plain text, HTML, XML, and JSON are discussed for their advantages and disadvantages. Also included is a discussion on web services and how they may be used to perform Ajax techniques. Next, more complex topics are covered. A chapter introducing a request management framework explores how to manage all of the requests inside of an Ajax application. Ajax debugging techniques are also discussed. Professional Ajax 2nd edition is written for Web application developers looking to enhance the usability of their web sites and web applications and intermediate JavaScript developers looking to further understand the language. Readers should have familiarity with XML, XSLT, Web Services, PHP or C#, HTML, CSS. Professional Ajax 2nd edition adds nearly 200 pages of new and expanded coverage compared to the first edition.

Step-by-step guide reveals best practices for enhancing Web sites with Ajax A step-by-step guide to enhancing Web sites with Ajax. Uses progressive enhancement techniques to ensure graceful degradation (which makes sites usable in all browsers). Shows readers how to write their own Ajax scripts instead of relying on third-party libraries. Web site designers love the idea of Ajax--of creating Web pages in which information can be updated without refreshing the entire page. But for those who aren't hard-core programmers, enhancing pages using Ajax can be a challenge. Even more of a challenge is making sure those pages work for all users. In Bulletproof Ajax, author Jeremy Keith demonstrates how developers comfortable with CSS and (X)HTML can build Ajax functionality without frameworks, using the ideas of graceful degradation and progressive enhancement to ensure that the pages work for all users. Throughout this step-by-step guide, his emphasis is on best practices with an approach to building Ajax pages called Hijax, which improves flexibility and avoids worst-case scenarios.

Learn to use these powerful tools together and build Web sites that work If you want to build Web pages that offer real value to your site's visitors, JavaScript and AJAX are top tools for the job. Even if you're new to Web programming, this book helps you create sites any designer will admire. With easy-to-understand steps and an emphasis on free tools, you'll be able to jump right into building a site using the same techniques as the pros. Down to basics learn your way around JavaScript and choose an editor and test browser Manage complexity use functions, arrays, and objects to create more sophisticated programs Page magic discover how to control what happens on your pages, animate objects, and put pages in motion Get beautiful Use the jQuery User Interface library to add sliders, tabbed interfaces, and custom dialogs to a site Come clean with AJAX build AJAX requests into your programs, use jQuery, and work with AJAX data Open the book and find: How to choose a test browser How to discuss string concatenation with a straight face Tips for debugging your code How to add useful information to a dropdown list Why AJAX connections should be asynchronous The exciting possibilities of the jQuery library How to use the Aptana editor Online resources for JavaScript programmers