i have further altered the ajax_search function and i get the error message
function ajax_search() { var search_word=$("#searchTerm").val(); var dataString = 'search_word='+ search_word; alert("ajax search this "+dataString); $.ajax({ type:"GET", url:"list.php", data: dataString, dataType:"html", success:ok, error:err }); } function ok(){ alert('ok'); $('#content').html(data); } function err(){ alert('something went wrong'); }