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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Ajax book, June 30, 2006
This review is from: Build Your Own Ajax Web Applications (Paperback)
The craze of Ajax has publishers rushing their own Ajax books to market to get a piece of the Ajax pie so to speak. This book sets itself apart from the other Ajax books for one reason...Clear, concise explanations with no confusing terminology! The author uses code snippets, browser results snapshots, and nice white space to allow the reader to digest what the author is talking about without getting overloading with techno-babble.
In my opinion, the most important part in learning Ajax is not the fancy DOM effects or the server-side coding to pull the data; it is understanding how you need to use the XMLHttpRequest object in sending and receiving requests from the server. The way we program our web applications to send and receive data from the server has changed with Ajax and this book shows the reader in gradual steps how to utilize the Ajax pieces in creating some useful editions to your website.
This book assumes you have knowledge of CSS and JavaScript, but that's it. You don't have to be a guru in either, just have a good basic understanding of each. The rest will be supplied by the author's code examples. Actually reading this book and learning Ajax will help you create better accessible website (even if you don't use Ajax), because it focuses on using technologies where they can degrade nicely if the user of the site does not have the most up-to-date browser or is using a screen reader which would definitely hinder on the web experience.
The most important chapter(s) in my opinion are Chapters 2, 3 and 4 where the author explains in great detail the XMLHttpRequest object and how is it is used to send a request asynchronously in getting requests from the server. I really like (as mentioned before) how the author stresses graceful degradation in case the object is not supported in the user's browser. Most of the other books that I have read through on Ajax do not even mention this and is a vital part in creating accessible web sites. Chapter 3 continues the theme on understanding the basics of asynchronous server requests with some useful examples that can be used right away in most websites. IE issues on memory leaks (hopefully eliminated with IE7), CSS and JavaScript differences are also discussed. Of course most other books slip other these simple things that can cause you hours of debugging and research on your part. Chapter 4 is the meat and potatoes of using GET and POST and how different salutations would lead you to using either one. Some nice useful, "real-world" examples are show and I have already incorporated one of these already. The author shows you how to incorporate Ajax in a simple login page to make it look more professional. Another topic in this chapter that I have never seen in another Ajax book is how Ajax is can be used with screen readers and has information on how to test it for (JAWS, IBM Home Page, Windows-Eyes, and Hal). That is another great addition that should be in every Ajax book (and actually most other web design and development books). I never knew how to test my web pages in screen readers until I read this chapter on it. Great Job!
The rest of the book focuses on incorporating different web services, how to not loose the Back button, and creating some fancy DOM-based effects with Ajax.
This should be your first book you get on Ajax (maybe not your last --- unless the author writes another book), and hopefully you will become a better web designer/developer because of it, I know I have.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Nice walkthrough, but a little too shallow, July 19, 2006
This review is from: Build Your Own Ajax Web Applications (Paperback)
I like the writing in this book. The author definitely knows his stuff. The design of the book is a set of case studies that show how AJAX is used in various applications. And through those examples you learn not just AJAX but also the DOM and CSS.
My only gripe with the book is that it didn't go far enough. It's deep enough to get your toe wet. But when you want to get deeper you will need to get other books like the excellent "Dynamic HTML" book from O'Reilly.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, July 15, 2007
This review is from: Build Your Own Ajax Web Applications (Paperback)
Like some others have said, this is a dissapointing book. What appeared to be a book that would bridge the gap between using JavaScript to perform DOM tricks and form validation and large AJAX applications turned out to be nothing more than a frantic overview of some of the core technology.
First and foremost, the pacing of this book is horrid. The obligatory "This is what AJAX means" introductory chapter is adequate, but things quickly go downhill from there. The next chapter, in which the author attempts to create a basic AJAX library, is confusing, largely because of the author's back-and-forth style. He spends more time rehashing and revising half-baked code than introducing the reasoning behind said code. This wouldn't be so bad if he summarized the library at the end, but instead he jumps right into a poorly described polling script. The author is anything but concise.
Second, adding to this frantic pace, is the author's penchant for glossing over important information. For example, loss of scope is (apparently) an important 'gotcha' to watch out for, but he never clearly explains where and why it happens. There's no real explanation of when executing context changes, or what it changes to (I'm guessing the most local scope, but who knows).
Regarding this, I must specifically mention the author's flippant use of object oriented JavaScript without any proper introduction to it. I'm familiar with using classes and objects in PHP and C++, but have never done so in JavaScript. The syntax seems straightforward enough, but his use of composition all throughout Chapter 3 may leave novices scratching their heads. Neglecting to use the UML to clarify his designs, especially in light of no OO introduction, was a horrible decision.
Finally, like another reviewer said, this book follows a pure step-by-muddled-step progression, so those readers hoping to skip to the good stuff will be disappointed to know that code in the later chapters relies on code created in the early chapters.
In the end, "Build Your Own AJAX Web Applications" misses the mark, and in a big way. The pace is frantic, the exposition muddled, and in the final tally, the book is best served being used as a coaster.
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