Ajax: Creating Next-Generation, Highly Dynamic, Off-line Capable Web Applications with HTML and JavaScript

Web applications have traditionally been a sort of Faustian bargain, yielding the high-quality user experience that desktop applications can deliver in exchange for incredibly easy deployment and lower support costs.

With Ajax we can get a lot of the best of both worlds. Now our web applications can be powerful, usable, an easily deployed!

Web applications have traditionally been a sort of Faustian bargain, yielding the high-quality user experience that desktop applications can deliver in exchange for incredibly easy deployment and lower support costs (i.e., no client software to install, upgrade, and test on every conceivable desktop configuration).

It turns out that these qualities need not be mutually exclusive. As several recent high-profile web applications such as Google's GMail have shown, modern browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer 6, Mozilla/Firefox, and Safari) are capable of rendering web applications with highly dynamic and compelling user interfaces -- fetching data from a server without page refreshes, animating and manipulating page contents on-the-fly, and all without resorting to third-party plug-ins like Flash. The line between a ""web"" application and a ""desktop"" application is blurring.

Let's blur it some more. Another major limitation of web applications is the lack of ability to function in a disconnected (i.e., off-line) mode. It turns out that this too is quite possible with the right architecture -- a web application can continue to function in a modern browser even in the absence of an Internet connection. And when the connection is re-established, data collected while in off-line mode can be uploaded to a server.

In this session, experienced web developer Dion Almaer (editor of TheServerSide.com) and noted Java desktop expert Ben Galbraith will explain in lucid (and entertaining) detail the techniques powering this new breed of web application. As part of the talk, they will demonstrate a non-trivial sample web application that makes use of the techniques.

One of the arguments against creating rich HTML/JavaScript has been how difficult they can be to write and maintain. Dion and Ben will illustrate how to adapt modern Java web frameworks such as JavaServer Faces and Tapestry to ease both the creation and maintenance of these types of applications.

Developers seeking practical, real-world advice for creating next-generation, rich web applications won't come away from this presentation disappointed.