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AJAX on the up

• By Paul Crichton
• 16 Apr 07, 03:55 PM

A recent survey has revealed that there are 3.5 million developers working on AJAX projects around the world, an increase of 50% on last year. AJAX, which stands for asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is what powers many ‘web 2.0’ applications. For example, it is used on Google Maps to provide extra information when users hover over specific locations.

The survey, carried out by , who are a market research company covering IT development, also reveals that 78% of AJAX applications are created for websites. The main reason it is becoming so popular is because AJAX provides greater usability for most visitors. I say most, because it can also cause a great deal of problems for some user groups, not least the visually impaired. AJAX can, for example, change content without refreshing the page. That is great if you can see it happening, but it is a real problem if you don't have the visual clues.

So much AJAX dependent functionality threatens to make the web a place less open to all. There are a few procedures around to make some AJAX techniques accessible, but these are far from being universally implemented by developers even when they could be.

The rush to add greater usability and functionality for the majority often means that the impact of AJAX on other user groups is overlooked. It can only be hoped that as AJAX matures, more techniques will be developed and implemented to make sure that everyone can enjoy the increased usability that it undoubtedly provides.

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