Great Ajax Examples in the Real World

In recent years, Ajax has become more and more popular among programmers of all stripes. Short for Asynchronous JavaScript and Excel, Ajax is a client-to-server communication tool used to connect the two in applications. There are excellent Ajax examples in the world all around us, and there are more coming each day. If you want to stay on top of current software development trends, becoming familiar with real-world Ajax applications is a must.

Fear not, though. We’ve gathered some excellent examples of Ajax in action right in this here article. In our guide, you’ll find out how developers employ Ajax every day in some of the most common and popular software applications. We show you how major companies have embraced Ajax in their customer interfaces. You probably already use Ajax every day without being aware of it, so it’s time to start incorporating it into your own code.

Do You Use Autocomplete? Then You Use Ajax

Autocomplete is one of the most prominent and useful additions to your search engines and email application in recent years. Autocomplete is so handy and unobtrusive that it feels as if we’ve always had it around. It’s like having an invisible butler there, holding a tray with the phrase you’re starting to type and saying, “perhaps this is what you were looking for, sir…?” Ajax’s ability to establish free communications between client and server makes autocomplete possible.

If you use Google and accept their autocomplete suggestions at any time, you’ve taken advantage of Ajax. Ditto with GMail—those helpful suggestions that let you finish sentences with a touch of the tab key have Ajax to thank for making them possible. Almost every instance in which you call up a web page and get on-the-fly suggestions for phrases or words involves Ajax at some level.

Ajax Is King of the Online Voting Mountain

There’s a lot more to Ajax than autocomplete, of course. If you’ve spent any time at all on coding education sites, forums, or other online hubs, you’ve run across an online voting widget or two. These little opinion polls are everywhere on the Internet asking for opinions on everything from the most talented Beatle (John) to the best slang name for the bathroom (John). And—you guessed it—they’re powered by Ajax.

Because Ajax is responsive and allows direct communication between the server and client, you can use it to create real-time polls. News site polls, fan favorite opinions, and every other sort of online voting that you can imagine has Ajax at their foundations. It allows for constant updating and running tallies, which are the lifeblood of polls. 

And there you have it, my friends. As a developer, you might not realize how important Ajax is, but it’s everywhere and one of the top skills employers like to see in developers. Our guide gives you Ajax examples you can find in the real world and shows you how important this invisible member of the developer’s toolkit truly is.