The Interactive Web

Posted by Guy Lecky-Thompson Aug 30, 2007

I remember when the web was nothing but a collection of statically linked hypertext documents with the odd image thrown in. Come to think of it, I remember looking at it sideways, as a step backwards, whilst Gophering my way through reams of information, and chatting online using Telnet. Very slowly.

Then someone started inventing bits and pieces of technology that made the web more interesting. It was more interesting because it became interactive.

Giving surfers the power to interact more made it both more usable, and entertaining, not to mention more straight up useful.

Now, we're often not even aware that the page is running along in the background falling over itself to enrich our experience. We've become blasé about the whole interactivity subject.

As programmers, though, it pays us to know how it's done, even if we just accept, as surfers, that it is there. So, here's a round-up of some AJAX related goodies, as we enter a new era of web interactivity.

Beginning AJAX

You'll want to bookmark this page, too, because here are some more traditional technologies explained:

• Getting Started with JavaScript
• Programming for the World Wide Web
• PHP Programming with HTML Documents