Enhancing Interactive Web Based Applications

Internet applications are fast becoming more complex and sophisticated. This leads to the increased need of support for complex interface designs. More receptive communication flow is also becoming important. Web browser acts as de-facto standard for communication on the internet. Web browser was originally developed for reading hyperlinked documents. Therefore, web browser is not the best option for browser hosted applications, which are more geared towards communication and user interface function. The paper, then, introduces AJAX as a tool for developing browser based applications. AJAX stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML. The paper discusses the suitability of AJAX for this purpose and brings forth several advantages of using this tool. It also investigates the impact of using AJAX from the viewpoint of user interaction as well as from developer's outlook. Use of AJAX signifies the shift to functionality based web, whereas earlier the web was designed to be information centric. This shift has been necessitated due to the change in the user profile. Also, the emergence of email and web browser as the backbone of internet has necessitated the need for more complex web applications. The newer dynamic websites and applications require use of more sophisticated technologies. This paper seeks to shed light on these newer techniques and evaluate them.