Alternatives To Ajax

AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is art of exchanging data with a server, and updating parts of a web page – without reloading the whole page. We have discussed about the advantages and disadvantages of using AJAX in my previouse post. Here we see alternative methods to implement the AJAX.

Applets

Applets are used to embed Java programs to an HTML web page. Thus it can be used for the same purpose of AJAX, Applets, like Flash have also long been used to create a solution for efficient dynamic web pages before AJAX, however, Applets also consume a lot of memory and can temporarily ‘freeze’ your browser while the Java plugin kicks in among other inefficiencies, however it is still heavily used in websites.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

SVG is a web standard based on XML and maybe used for dynamic or static text and images thus can be used to serve dynamic web pages without the refresh of a page. Unfortunately, by default, Internet Explorer,has no support for SVG. Several Plugins are available though, to render SVG content. The incompatibility with Internet Explorer is a major reason behind choosing AJAX over SVG.

XUL

XUL (XML User Interface Language) is developed by Mozilla and is used primarily for Mozilla based browser for add-ons, as this caters to Firefox users only it may not be a universal solution but depending on the purpose of the web application it can be useful. Also Mozilla based browsers are continually gaining market share in the browser market which means over time XUL can be an alternative to consider. IT uses Javascript, CSS and the DOM which makes it similar to the AJAX framework and it also allows creating dynamic content without the need of refreshing a page, thus a suitable alternative.