AJAX

Asynchronous Javascript And XML (AJAX): denotes a new type of web page design allowing certain data on the page to be updated without completely reloading the page.

This design method is based on a combination of existing technologies: HTML/CSS, Javascript/DOM, XML HTTP requests.

For example, LiveSearch can be carried out. This means that as you type keywords for a search, you see a list of results appear (without reloading the page). This is only one example; there are many applications for this type of web site design most of which are still to be invented.

Among the applications that use AJAX are Gmail, Windows Liveetc.

What actually happens is that a Javascript object (the XMLHTTPRequest object) enables an HTTP request such as POST, GET, etc. to be sent to the server and the result retrieved. The direct result is that there is no need to reload a page to retrieve the information on the server.

Today, only the more recent browsers can use AJAX (Internet Explorer versions 5 and higher, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome etc.).