PHP Development Basics Tutorial: Introduction to AJAX

1. What is AJAX

• AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript and XML.

• AJAX is a technology for creating fast, dynamic web pages.

• AJAX allows web pages to be updated asynchronously by exchanging a small amount of data with the server in the background. This means that parts of a web page can be updated without reloading the entire page.

• For traditional web pages (not using AJAX), if the content needs to be updated, the entire web page must be reloaded.

There are many application cases using AJAX: Sina Weibo, Google Maps, Kaixin.com, etc.

---

2. How AJAX works

---

## 3. AJAX is based on Internet standards

AJAX is based on Internet standards and uses the following technology combination:

• XMLHttpRequest object (asynchronous data interaction with the server)

• JavaScript/DOM (display/retrieve information)

• CSS (set the style of data)

• XML (format commonly used for data transfer)

Note: AJAX applications are browser and platform independent

4. The rise of AJAX

In 2005, Google made AJAX popular through its Google Suggest.

Google Suggest uses AJAX to create a highly dynamic web interface: when you enter keywords in Google's search box, JavaScript will send these characters to the server, and then the server will return a list of search suggestions .