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The Internet has come a long way since the days when a page load meant staring at a spinning wheel while the entire page refreshed. These days, web pages feel smooth, responsive, and app-like without constant full page reloads. What changed? The short answer is AJAX.
AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It refers to a group of web development techniques used on the client-side to create asynchronous web applications. With AJAX, web apps can send and retrieve data from a server asynchronously without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page. This makes web pages feel more responsive and faster.
In this article, we’ll unpack how AJAX works and why it had such a profound effect on web development.
What Was Wrong with the “Old” Way?
Before AJAX came along, web pages were synchronous. Every user interaction meant downloading entire new pages from the server. This introduced a lot of latency and inefficiency. Servers had to send full pages even for the smallest updates, and users dealt with jarring page transitions.
