Example of a poor use of AJAX
InternetI am by no means an expert when it comes to AJAX, but even I can spot a poor use of it when I see it. Check out Authorize.Net and notice the mouseovers on the tabs in the lower-middle content area ("Merchants","Resellers","Developers"). As you roll over each tab you will notice an AJAX loading gif along with "Requesting Content".
Now, AJAX is cool don't get me wrong. We have found many great uses for it. But, in this case why wouldn't they just swap divs? I think Rob Gonda (or was it J.J. Garrett) predicted an AJAX hall of shame...I wonder if this one would be a candidate?
mikey said:
Check out http://www.surewest.net/ It is so amazingly annoying I cannot stand to use it.
Joe Danziger said:
Yeah, it's developers like that that give Ajax a bad name! That is one of the worst examples of "because I can" that I've ever seen!
Fernando Lopez said:
Excuse me to say this, but what have you guys been smoking?
I went to the surewest.net website, I turned on Firebug in anticipation of all the AJAX calls you guys were mentioning I saw 0 ZERO calls. The website was created using Laszlo and if it is using some kind of behind the scenes calls to the server is definitely not AJAX. I'm not a flash Expert here, but I'm pretty sure Flash has a different way to communicate to the server than the XMLHttpRequest object, which is the core of AJAX.
If I'm mistaken, please enlighted me cause I see no reason to your previous comments.
I went to the surewest.net website, I turned on Firebug in anticipation of all the AJAX calls you guys were mentioning I saw 0 ZERO calls. The website was created using Laszlo and if it is using some kind of behind the scenes calls to the server is definitely not AJAX. I'm not a flash Expert here, but I'm pretty sure Flash has a different way to communicate to the server than the XMLHttpRequest object, which is the core of AJAX.
If I'm mistaken, please enlighted me cause I see no reason to your previous comments.
Joe Danziger said:
Well, I was referring to the <a href="http://www.authorize.net">Authorize.net</a> site mentioned in the actual blog post. The <a href="http://www.surewest.net">surewest</a> site, while possibly a bit overdone, does seem to function just fine..
Fernando Lopez said:
Since we are clarifying the comments, I was referring to the one by Mikey, your followup seemed to confirm his entry.
I agree on the authorize.net, awful use of AJAX, the calls are unlimited. Maybe if it was done once and then the contents for each section were saved in a var, that way you only switch content without hitting the server every single time.
and the markup on the response is just perfect, Table, table table......This is not only a case of "I can do it" is a case " I can do it and I'll do it in the worst possible way".
I agree on the authorize.net, awful use of AJAX, the calls are unlimited. Maybe if it was done once and then the contents for each section were saved in a var, that way you only switch content without hitting the server every single time.
and the markup on the response is just perfect, Table, table table......This is not only a case of "I can do it" is a case " I can do it and I'll do it in the worst possible way".
mikey said:
I guess it is difficult sometimes to tell blog posts from comments. I just meant to provide another example of overblown design, I was not implying at all that it was Ajax.
Aaron Lynch said:
It looks like Authorize.net has done away with the "awesome" AJAX example. Good for them, bad for the AJAX Hall of Shame.
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