Review: Ajax Professional

February 11, 2006 DHTML Permalink 20 Comments Share

i got my copy of Professional Ajax that jeremy was kind enough to send me the other day, and naturally i ripped it open and started to read through it... the first couple chapters just cover the basics and stuff about the web/internet in general, so if you're like me you kinda skim through it and then hunker down when you start seeing code snippets that catch your eye.

lots of good stuff in here, though.... page pre-fetching, throttle'n and cache'n, incremental form validation... and that's just in the first 60 pages or so... good stuff, man. seems like i get at least a couple emails a week about "ajax" related stuff... asking questions, looking for resources/links/suggestions, etc... so once again, here's one i dont mind pimp'n out at all... heh.

did notice my site being mentioned (pg. 129), which was damn kewl.... also noticed a few of the examples, such as the Comment Notifier, which kinda brought a smile... and the HoverSmack() style "msn search" widget they have in the book (pg. 258) which sorta had me arch'n an eyebrow when i saw that, but it's all guuuuuuuuuud... i got the idea from seeing those Y! popups, though i couldnt stand how they were implemented... hence doing my own HoverSmack() script, which you guys know all about by now... heh.

i have the distinct feeling that i'll be going back over a few of my scripts here and revisiting a few things i saw from the book.

Comments 20

Erik Arvidsson says,
I'm a bit disappointed that Nicholas didn't ask me this time. Well, I guess I'll have to go and buy it like the rest of the people. I need to catch up on this Ajax thingy everyone is raving about.

foO says,
sweet buddy :)

Jonathan says,
Woohoo! It was waiting at work for me when I got here!

Jonathan says,
Waiting on my copy now foo. Thanks for the recommendation!

foO says,
oh sweet, thanks buddy!!!! really appreciate it!

it really is a well written book, and easy to follow and read through... i plowed through the first 60 pages or so pretty quickly, but i'm sure the subject matter had a lil something to do with it... heh.

already picked up a couple things and ideas, too. ;)

Nicholas C. Zakas says,
Yeah, it was me. I arranged for everyone who reviewed Professional JavaScript to get a copy of this one as well. (Posted a brief message over at my blog a while back, but I'm sure a lot of people missed it.)

Figured it was worth it, considering all the free publicity you've given the books so far.

foO says,
did you send me a copy of the book, nicholas? got one in the mail the other day, and jeremy told me just a lil while ago it wasnt from him... *scratches head*

if so, thanks buddy! i owe ya one, man

Nicholas says,
Blame Jeremy

Glad you like the comment notifier.

foO says,
when i saw that i was like "hey, that's the hoversmack!"

Jeremy says,
"'msn search' widget they have in the book (pg. 258) which sorta had me arch'n an eyebrow when i saw that"

*whistles*

foO says,
ahhhhhhh-hah! nice catch, emil -- all i have to do is simply add in some HTTP header info to the cfm page i was calling and it'll be all good... didnt think of that, either.

i'm on a roll today, man ;)

Emil A Eklund says,
Nice one foo. Regarding caching; as long as you handle the cache headers correctly (sending Modified and checking the If-Modified-Since one for instance) js and css files generated by server side scripts can still be cached, just as effectively as static files.

Chris says,
a couple hundred... f.i.h

foO says,
i've only done it a few times, though it's definitely kinda kewl to be able to use server-side pages for manipulate css/js files, etc... sucks about the loading issue, tho.

hmmmmmmmmmm.

i have so many effin .css files and shit in my /css directory it's crazy... probably a couple hundred at this point.

ScriptDaddy says,
Very nice with the comment Pop-up.

Chris says,
I did the same with my CSS. I was changing things like backgrounds and colours based on the user but my traffic doubled in a week because every page had to load a 23kb file over and over.

you live and learn.

// btw love that comment popup thing

foO says,
sweetness.... good to know, and note for the future -- probably a good reason why most sites dont do it, aye? ;)

heh.

Chris says,
loading much much faster now.

foO says,
hmmmmm... i hadnt really thought of that part. might go ahead and convert back to reference'n the .js files, then.

Chris says,
Still new to Ajax so I could use a book like this. At the moment I use XHConn to handle the server requests as I don't really understand that part.

speaking of cache'n your site does not provide a way to cache your javascript because it's loaded from a cf file. Everytime I visit it has to load it over and over.

forgetfoo

Blog.

Review: Ajax Professional