"Ajax Hacks".

According to Perry, "Ajax Hacks" was written for people enjoy hacking web applications creatively, as well as for both experienced and new web-application developers. "Ajax seems to have reached a tipping point where many software developers are examining this group of existing technologies (JavaScript, XML, JSON, DOM, XMLHttpRequest) as a potential model for future web applications," says Perry. "Because of the increasing ubiquity of broadband Internet connections and connected mobile devices, web applications continue to be used for tasks that may have previously used a traditional desktop application. These new web applications will increasingly use the Ajax model."

In a foreword to the book, Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path, known for coining the term Ajax, observes that over the years web designers and developers have developed an arsenal of conventions to rely on when designing applications: where the logo goes, how a link behaves when it is clicked, etc. But he observes that much of that knowledge goes out the windows with Ajax. "We have a wider palette to work with," says Garrett, "but that also means we have more opportunities to make mistakes. And believe me, we'll make a lot of them. It takes time to get smart, and just as it took us a while to get a handle on the old static Web, it'll take us some time to get good at creating Ajax experiences as well."

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