One of many buzzwords peppering the Web 2.0 blogosphere is actually a mneumonic, “AJAX.”  AJAX stands for “Asynchronous Javascript and XML.”  One of the most notable features of AJAX, which is basically an extension of Javascript, is the XMLHttpRequest object.  This object can talk to other pages on the server, written in PHP, ASP, and other languages to retrieve data and display it dynamically on a page.  AJAX has opened many doors to web developers, allowing data to be easily refreshed without refreshing a page itself.

Additionally, Flash-like effects such as certain animations or drag-and-drop can be implemented on pages using AJAX.  This comes in handy, as a small but significant percentage of Internet users do not have the Flash browser plugin or have an out-of-date version of the player.  This can also help with certain less Flash-friendly mobile apps. (more…)