Book Review: Ajax for Dummies

May 30th, 2006

Ajax for Dummies by Steve Holzner, PhD offers an engaging introduction to developing Web sites that behave like desktop applications. Written in accessible language that assumes very little technical expertise, Ajax for Dummies will be valuable for anyone interested in JavaScript, PHP, and how these languages can be used to enhance a Web user’s experience.

Ajax for Dummies is organized in four main parts: Getting Started, Programming in Ajax, Ajax Frameworks, and In-Depth Ajax Power. After a brief overview of ways that Ajax can improve existing Web site features and add new functionality, Holzner introduces basic JavaScript programming concepts to lay the groundwork for a project-based Ajax introduction. In two chapters, Ajax for Dummies will give you enough knowledge to begin basic Ajax programming and to understand how the XMLHTTPRequest object interacts with both the Web visitor’s browser (client-side) and how the browser interacts with the Web site host computer (server-side). Though I have read quite broadly on the subject of Ajax, this introduction to Ajax was the most thorough I’ve yet encountered.

Holzner’s painstaking line-by-line introduction of code and careful commentary on each bit of code will ensure that anyone can understand Ajax. However, the thoroughness of Ajax for Dummies will be an impediment to some readers who already are proficient in JavaScript programming and who simply want an introduction to Ajax. These readers will do well to skip Part One and launch into the Programming in Ajax section. Even here, they will be likely to move rapidly and absorb only the relevant bits of code and conceptual material that emerges. Though not everyone will move at the same pace, the last two parts of Ajax for Dummies offer information that will be of use to most readers.

Parts three and four introduce some of the programming frameworks available for Ajax and various server-side languages from PHP to Java and ASP. In part four, there is a brief introduction to XML processing with JavaScript, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and various uses of PHP. Here readers will choose to read whatever compliments their current skill-set.

The last section of the book is the obligatory for Dummies Part of Tens. Here, Holzner discusses the limitations and design issues surrounding the use of Ajax in Web sites. One comment was especially relevant to anyone considering Ajax for their design project:

Sometimes, developers use Ajax just because it’s a new thing. Be careful about that tendency, too. Ajax solves many problems, but if you don’t have to use it, there’s no reason to. And also, don’t forget that your Ajax applications might not work in all browsers - such as those where JavaScript has been turned off. You should provide some kind of backup in that case.

In a Web design climate where Ajax is becoming the new Flash and is simply used because it’s “sexy,” this advice is needed and, hopefully, will be heeded!

Ajax for Dummies closes with a list of resources that will help you use Ajax for maximum effect in your Web applications. Listed here is Jesse James Garret’s original essay on Ajax, links to resources for Ajax best practices, reference materials, blogs, tutorials, and a discussion group.

Author: Steve Holzner, PhD
Softcover: 359 pages
Publisher: Wiley (March 2006)
Language: English
ISBN: 0471785970
List Price: $29.99

Entry Filed under: Book & Software Reviews