Bulletproof Ajax (Book Review)
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
This week I’ve been reading Bulletproof Ajax by Jeremy Keith as an introduction to the concepts of asynchronous communication with a web server. There’s no doubt that creating slick interface functionality is an area developers and designers are currently under pressure to incorporate into projects. Jeremy’s book provides, in line with his views on unobtrusive JavaScript and progressive enhancement, a solid introduction into the XMLHTTPRequest Object and the necessary perspective on when and how to employ it wisely.
The down side of using Ajax is its potential to impact negatively on accessibility. It could also be said that with power comes responsibility and just because we can do something doesn’t make it the right thing for us to do. The main thrust of this book is to constantly ask yourself questions. Is this a situation where Ajax might be applicable? Will it impact negatively on any user groups? Do we need to do this? There are situations where you are far better served getting a full page refresh rather than having the cool effect of instant change.
While my experience in JavaScript is still at the level of novice there were two halves to this book for me. The first half: the basic concepts and operation of Ajax and the thrust of the text aimed at responsible use of the technology were absorbed quite effortlessly. This has given me the starting point I needed. The second half: while there were points in the later section I felt ran a little over my head and over then next week I’ll have to reread and work through the code to better appreciate what Jeremy’s written.
At a certain point of explaining code in the putting it all together chapter the message became convoluted and I felt some overview in the form of a class diagram might have assisted me to keep on track. Programming, after all, is also about developing our abstract thinking skills as much as being about general problem solving.
I would strongly recommend anyone to go out and buy Jeremy’s books (first read DOM Scripting and then this one).
