Some years since I did any programming. Have had some time on my hands and taught myself python, web2py, jquery, javascript. Fine with all that. However I have some questions about the general design pattern/ architecture of a web2py application and specifically on use of AJAX.
I have created an application using web2py. It is a bit like a desktop application so there is a main document area taking 80% of the screen, and five smaller areas such as a menubar at the top of the screen and a sidebar with selectable items. If I doubleclick an item in the main document it does a calculation on the server and then adds a single word to the sidebar area. My question is should I use AJAX to call the server and update the single word? Or just use a normal web request and refresh the whole page? Logically it is only one word so less bandwidth to get it via AJAX. However I have found it makes some of the coding less clean - e.g.with AJAX I have to generate the HTML table on the server or in raw javascript; whereas with refreshing the page I can use web2py html helpers in embedded python in the webpage - much simpler and keeps the HTML in the view. I cannot see a performance difference with 1 user on a local server and I guess most of the data hungry items on the page are cached anyway. When should you use AJAX rather than a standard web request? At what level of usage would I find the page refresh method becomes a performance issue?
