On Dec 11, 2007 10:15 AM, David Crooks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > You forgot a buzzword: AJAX 8-) >
Well, I really wanted to try to avoid that slippery slope, and went for the more inclusive HTML/CSS/JavaScript/XML, because 95% of what I see people selling as "AJAX" is neither Asynchronous not XML-ish, but just the same old Dynamic HTML with Javascript demos that Ken Levy was showing us in 1998. Some folks have really gotten the religion and are using the latest techniques to make really rich-interaction web sites with AJAX, (which requires a serious re-architecting of the server-side) but most really still seem to be the old modal post-and-retrieve model, (with a Javascript library pasted into the HTML for dancing widgets), which actually makes a lot of sense when you're talking about "transactions" and not twitters. I think that both "modes" have their place: whether or not the item is in stock is a handy piece of information for the user to see (and update on the fly), but the order doesn't go through until the "Place My Order" button is pressed. A number of clients are still using the post-and-retrieve model for heads-down transactions and have no problem with that. I wasn't so much concerned with the mode of user interaction as the choice of tools involved. While I understand the move to develop apps in Flash/Silverlight/etc. as an attempt at getting a richer UI with simpler scripting, I see it as a step backwards towards the "One Tool To Rule Them All" model of vendor-customer relations. Using a freely-shared Javascript library like Prototype[1] lets you get all the AJAXy goodness without tying you down to a specific implementation for the server-side scripting language (Ruby, Python, PHP, Perl or DotNet) or platform (Apache or IIS, FreeBSD, Linux, OS X or Windows). I think that's a bigger win for the developers: they can change the underlying fraemwork without changing the UI or vice versa. Isn't that what all this n-tier stuff is supposed to be about? [1] http://www.prototypejs.org/ --- Ted Roche Ted Roche & Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
