Getting Started with Ajax

A List Apart is pleased to present the following excerpt from Chapter 27 of Web Design in a Nutshell, 3rd Edition by Aaron Gustafson.

“In a nutshell, it is the use of the nonstandard XMLHttpRequest() object to communicate with server-side scripts. It can send as well as receive information in a variety of formats, including XML, HTML, and even text files. Ajax’s most appealing characteristic, however, is its ‘asynchronous’ nature, which means it can do all of this without having to refresh the page.”