Building a Web Site with Ajax: Visual QuickProject Guide (Paperback)

~ Larry Ullman (Author)
Key Phrases: see extra bits, browsing employees, extra bits section, Human Resources, Document Object Model, Redundancy Department (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Ajax is at the heart of the Web 2.0 revolution. It isn't a technology but, rather, is a technique that leverages other technologies and techniques, such as CSS, XML, DHTML, and XHTML. Many Web designers and programmers would like to incorporate Ajax in their projects because of the amazing functionality it can add to a Web site, but they can't because of the steep learning curve. That's where this book steps in. It makes learning Ajax fun and easy -- a great place to start! Visual QuickProject Guides focus on a single project. In this case the project is creating a business employee directory, like an address book. What's being created is a better, new kind of Web site.

About the Author

Larry Ullman is the Director of Digital Media Technologies and Lead PHP Programmer at DMC Insights, Inc., a firm specializing in information technology. In addition to writing, Larry develops dynamic Web applications, conducts training seminars, and is an Extension Instructor for the University of California at Berkeley.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press (October 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321524411
• ISBN-13: 978-0321524416
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #102,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Specific Example Of Ajax, December 12, 2007

By	John Guerin "D/B Wizard" (Phoenix AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author succeeds in leading the reader through an example application utilizing techniques that have been lumped under the name "Ajax". I suspect that many readers learn as I do by testing and experimenting with code examples. To get the most out of the book, these readers should have access to a desktop or ISP web server with Php capability.

Throught out the book, the author refers the reader to other resources that cover topics referred to briefly or noted as simply not in the scope of the book. Examples are installing Apache/PHP, verifying data input, security considerations etc.

The book is a excellent read for those who have already delved into one of the pre-Ajax volumes that covered MySql/PHP in depth and want an Ajax upgrade. Others with basic application implementation needs will benefit from the overview, example code and resource tips provided.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good AJAX begginer workshop in a book, March 4, 2008

By	L. LePere - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The book jacket lists it as a beginner level book. It says: "Familiarity with HTML, JavaScript, PHP and CSS would be helpful but is not required." It's true that the project doesn't involve anything terribly complicated in any of these areas. Still, if ALL of these are unfamiliar to you, I'd guess it would be quite difficult to follow what is going on simply because there are so many components interacting. (Actually there are a few more involved as well: MySQL, SQL and XML).

Every step of the project is explained at a level that assumes you might not have seen that type of code before. But the exact syntax of each line of code isn't always explained so you may have to follow up with more reading and research if you want to adapt what you've learned to your own project later.

Several things I thought were particularly good about this book. One: given that browsers do a good part of the processing with AJAX through JavaScript, and given that you can't count on consistent behavior across browsers--or even on JavaScript being enabled, I was pleased to find that the project was designed to create a non-AJAX version first and then to add the AJAX layer on top of that.

Two: there was a good amount of error-checking built in to the application even though it is a fairly simple one. That's something as a not-so-proficient programmer I often find myself overlooking.

And three: tips on debugging in PHP and in JavaScript are included. Although they are pretty basic tips, if you are a beginner, they will be helpful.

I'd say this book can give you as much for your investment of time as many a day-long workshop would and at much lower cost.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on Ajax and server side and client side problems, January 25, 2008

By	samcsharp (Lyon, France) - See all my reviews

I already have a book from Larry Ullman (on PHP5 and SQL). So I know the man is both a great programmer and an excellent teacher. I already know the basics of Ajax (XMLHTTPRequest object, asynchronous requests etc). But I'm always interested in studying case studies. The book was unexpensive and short so I went for it. And I'm really happy I did. The project developed in this book clearly shows how to deal with server side problems and even to deal with a client on which javascript is disabbled (or blocked by a security app).
Two thumbs up for this book.