Ajax on Way Out? Slide Down Hype Curve Exaggerated

Dietrich Kappe, Friday, May 9, 2008 @ 3:54 pm

Aidan Henry over at MappingTheWeb asks whether Ajax is on the way out. Aside from observing that the "frenzy ways of web 2.0 are over," he opines that:

My quarrel lies in the fact that many web designers and developers choose to overuse this technology to the point of stupidity. It is meant to simplify the experience, not complicate it. Using AJAX for the sake of using AJAX isn’t valid reasoning. Some sites incorporate it in an elegant, intuitive way, while others saturate the experience with an absurd amount of on-page activity. A threshold needs to be established based on user intentions.

Yes, the froth may be off the Web 2.0 bubble because of the economy (venture-backed firms take their value from IPO's and acquisitions, which slow tremendously in a recession), but Web 2.0 entrants into the marketplace are here to stay, and O'Reilly's Web 2.0 principles have been vetted by the marketplace.

And yes, Ajax has turned from the latest, greatest thing since sliced bread into just another hammer in the developers toolbox. It's old hat. But just as there were lousy web sites and applications out there in the early days of the web, there are lousy Ajax applications out there now. But the envelope is still being pushed and shoved in terms of what can be done with Ajax, especially in the SaaS and commercial webapp space.

If Ajax does shuffle off this web coil, it won’t be because of overuse. The horse is out of the barn when it comes to rich client interaction, and applications and sites that stick to the dowdy sites with 20 postbacks will get rolled under by their Ajax-enabled competition.

If Ajax does go away, it will be because of competitors like Flash/Flex/Air and Silverlight. The choice used to be between forms-based web applications that were easy to develop and would run anywhere, and Flash apps that were hard(er) to develop and might not run everywhere. Now that rich Ajax applications share some of the same challenges, folks are looking at Flash applications (and Silverlight) in a whole new way.

Related posts:

1. Ajax and the “Back” button II
2. Smell the Hype – Gartner Analyst Puffs up AJAX
3. Which Ajax-based Apps Do You Actually Use?
4. Excellent Overview of Ajax Competitors
5. Some Thoughts on Silverlight

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Software Development

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1. 

   All though you are technically right that Ajax is “just another tool” it carries some traits which does provide a high amount up the “uniqueness scale”. First of all it’s also about a different way to deliver applications which requires a different business model. (SaaS)
   Second of all it requires a complete re-write of the marketing models. (SEO and Viral instead of adds in the local computer mag)
   Also in regards to Silverlight and Flex, sure they will have their places (unfortunately) but they can never compete against web-technology…

   Comment by Thomas Hansen, Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 4:39 am

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