I would like to hear from the experts of Flash, Flex and AJAX Platform on this.As recently seen at gmail & heard more about AJAX and its use on various blogs. The question that prompted me to look over the net is Flash Vs AJAX and here is the list which i found the appropriate for the answer:
- Flash is Ajax, or Flash vs Ajax, at the Ajax Summit
- AJAX vs Flash
- Flash & Ajax
- AJAX vs Flash
- Are you using Ajax
I will be glad to recieve more information on it and your thoughts.
I think, AJAX is just over hyped term. Most of people don't use AJAX instead they use XHR (XMLHTTPRequest), XML is hardly used because it's not good experience parsing XML on client-side(in browsers).
ReplyDeleteBut XHR is indeed an useful thing, you can do things better way. You can provide better experience than the traditional web-pages.
But comparing it with Flash(SWF) doesn't make sense. I would say XHR and Flash both compliement each other. I would be very practical while using both. I would use where each of them make sense. Things(audio, video, rich-interfaces, data-services etc) which can not(or very hard) be done in browsers I would use Flash to do...I think, Flickr is good example..
Actually, I can write more with more examples but really busy now..later!
-abdul
Ya right, both of them have their own advantages and should be used effectivly depending on the requirement. But what i have seen so far is ACTUAL awareness of Flash Player among the users. People are still scared of download new versions. [Sometime i feel adobe should upgrade the version every alternate year]. Other new update of IE also restrict new media like Flash to play directly and increases one level of click.
ReplyDeleteThe way AJAX has been used in GMAIL is excellent. It do not ask for any upgradation of script. Thought i know that opera 7 browser do not supports AJAX.
Well, as being novice to these languages, i think i should wait to hear from you in precise. :)
Ajax and Flash aren't really directly comparable.
ReplyDeleteAjax is basically like the asynchronous communication part of the flash XML object. Actually it's a bit cooler than that because you don't have to pass back XML to Ajax, you could pass back html, or a javascript function to execute.
Now, flash has been able to send and receive data asynchronously for ages, but now the technique has become possible through JavaScript (or more accurately, made popular) all of a sudden that has taken off (Gmail, flickr, googlemaps to name some obvious success stories).
One thing is for sure, doing Ajax is much harder than the comparable ActionScript in flash. It's kinda like, various bits and pieces bolted together than you have to do loads of testing on to make sure it works. For example, there is no property like XML.ignoreWhite = true;. Internet explorer ignores white space by default, the other browsers don't. That means basic things like navigating XML nodes are broken (until you fix them)!
What am I saying here?
Basically, to get into building 'web apps' as a whole, you can't just learn ajax, you have to get into DOM (document object model) scripting as a whole, because Ajax is just a very small part of that.
It's much harder to deploy due to browser differences, however with good scripting you can make it degradable so that your site will still work without ajax support (i.e. old crap browsers or javascript disabled).
However! Web apps built this way enjoy a bigger reach, many people have flash blocked and stuff like that so this is definitely a consideration. Also you're don't have to drop flash completely. For example on flickr.com there are two mini-apps (Organizr and the Slide Show) which are pure flash applications, even though the rest of the site uses Ajax to enhance features throughout.
We had a discussion like this a while back, about the future of Flash. In my opinion for general web applications, you can usually do better with the DOM/Ajax than you can with flash unless you need something REALLY interactive. The boundaries there will continue to be pushed by both technologies (e.g. http://www.fluxiom.com/ has drag and drop, desktop like file selection (drag and select) and all kinds of jazz going on) then again flash can do very impressive video and even crazier stuff!
Flash is also doing very well in the mobile market compared to Ajax. You can make nice XHTML sites for the mobile, but the really cool ones are Flash (or mobile java).
You have to remember, Flash is a propriatery technology developed by a single company, while DOM scripting and XHTML doesn't belong to a company (and yes, i know Ajax was originally an MS technology for IE). They're both great tools that can do some awesome stuff. You could do really well being an expert at either one of them or even learn both as they can compliment each other.
By the way, this is the site that originally coined 'Ajax' in the first place - http://www.fiftyfoureleven.com/
-Matt
http://www.cybergrain.com/archives/2005/04/aflax_will_not_1.html This is what i found over the net and pls go throught the conversations.
ReplyDeletePlease check this one, too.
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn/archive/2005/10/02/476222.aspx
Ajax is the IN thing you can beat it and its not hyped whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI have created applications in Ajax and its helping users cut down on time.
The latest and older application I have created or have been part of will and have been used by some of the world's best sites, some of the best email sites you use, use the technology we create.
So if you think AJAX does not work you should start using Windows 98 and say Windows XP will never be a reality.
Keith
Depends on what you want. FLickr works without Ajax but works better with it.
ReplyDeleteI think jusing the term AJAX (or XHR) is fine.. i haven't been able to sell XMLHTTPRequest to a client yet.
The cross browser issue is a problem for using XML indeed.. it's refreshing to use FLash or Firefox plugin just to not have to worry about it.
However there are plenty of good javscript libraries that make this easier if you want to use XML, and as an added bonus you optionally have an API (if that's what you want to do).
I think AJAX and Flash go nicely together as well. However AJAX is also starting to compete with Flash on many levels with the advent of various toolkits like the Yahoo toolkit for instance.
ReplyDeleteBut when it comes to developing something extensive i prefer strong typing though. This is where initiatives like haxe(http://haxe.org/) are very promising. Haxe btw is an really neat project. It allows you to use familiar ECMAScript to program flash as well as DHTML/AJAX applications!
Eitherwise both are important skills to have. ;-)
peace,
darshan