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Ajax Hacks: Tips & Tools for Creating Responsive Web Sites Review by John R. Vacca
CLEANING UP WITH AJAX!!
Do you want to add extra interactivity to your web site? If you do, then this book is for you! Author Bruce Perry, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that collects not only dozens of easy-to-grasp, cutting-edge explorations of Ajax technology, such as Google/Yahoo! mapping mash-ups, drag-and-drop bookstores, and single-page web services apps, but a large number of hacks that represent practical advice for Ajax developers.
Perry, begins with a synopsis of the group of well-known technologies that make up Ajax. Then, the author shows how typical it is now to submit form data and to build form widgets such as select lists and checkbox groups using server data fetched in the background with XMLHttpRequest. Next, the author discusses how Ajax applications can cut down on server hits by validating the format of e-mail addresses, credit card numbers, zip codes, and other types of data that users enter into web forms before sending the data. The author then covers a mash-up of Google Maps, Yahoo! Maps, and Yahoo! driving directions, as well as a software interaction involving Yahoo! Maps and a location-to-URL service called GeoURL. The author continues by discussing Ajax as it relates to developers who are immersed in both Java and JavaScript. He also discusses how to use Prototype, a cool open source JavaScript library that includes its own Ajax tools. Next, the author shows you how to get up and running with RoR; and then, moves on to several hacks that illustrate RoR's Ajax tools. Then, he covers script.aculo.us, which is another opensource JavaScript library built on Prototype. Finally, the author provides several tips for real-world Ajax developers.
This most excellent book introduces JavaScript newbies and aficionados alike to useful code libraries, including Prototype, Rico, and script.aculo.us. More importantly, web developers can adapt a number of this book's hacks, some of which are distributed as open source libraries, for their own applications.