10 Practical Uses For AJAX

1. Login Forms:
   
   Instead of going to a login page, and then navigating back to the page you originally wanted, with AJAX, a user can type in their user name and password directly into the original page. From there AJAX will send a request to the server to log them in. The server let’s the page know they’ve been logged in, and the page you are on can update as needed. Digg has a login-system that works like this.
   
   Plugin: jQuery Form Plugin
2. Auto-Complete:
   
   Google was one of the first major companies to start using AJAX, and Google’s search suggestion tool was one of the first ways they used it, and one of the first auto-complete tools made. When typing into the Google search bar, it starts to use AJAX to get common results from the database on each keystroke. Auto-Complete is great for forms where you have a lot of possible inputs, and making a select drop down would be too long and cumbersome.
   
   Plugin:  jq autocomplete
3. Voting and Rating
4. Updating With User Content
5. Form Submission & Validation
6. Chat Rooms And Instant Messaging:
   
   Chatting online has come a long way from the days of IRC. Chat rooms and instant messaging can now be handled in the browser completely. There are two main AJAX processes in a chat room or IM application. Think of one of them as your ears, and one of them as your mouth. Your ‘mouth’ updates the server and lets it know that you have sent a message. The ‘ears’ check with the server constantly, and updates your page with messages that have been sent by whoever you are chatting with.
   
   Plugin: GMail/Facebook Style Chat Script
7. Slicker UIs:
   
   Creating a clean, slick user interface is a very popular use of AJAX. It allows users to accomplish more on a single page. The benefits of this are twofold: First, it makes using the web application quicker and easier for the user; Secondly, it cuts down on the number of requests you have to make to the server, which cuts down on bandwidth and load times. A free file upload service called Drop.io uses this well. Google has also really pushed the envelope of what is possible with AJAX by making desktop-like applications like Google Docs and Google Maps.
8. External Widgets:
   
   When using AJAX, the page that is using the JavaScript isn’t just limited to the server it is located on. The AJAX can make a call to any server online. This is how a number of plug-ins for Content Management Systems like Wordpress work, and other various scripts like Google Adsense.
   
   Plugin: Script for loading external content into div
9. Lightboxes instead of pop-ups:
   
   Pop-up blockers are very common place these days, and for a good reason: pop-ups are annoying. Using light boxes, which are pop-ups inside the browser window, the pop-up blocker can’t stop it, and they aren’t quite as irritating to the user. Some people use them for advertising, like on Darren Rowe’s ProBlogger.com. They can also be used for something like a login or register box, like Reddit does when you try to vote and you are not logged in.
   
   Plugin: Lightbox Plugin
10. Using AJAX With Flash:
    
    Using AJAX along with Flash is a rarely used technique, but it can be used to generate some impressive results. The flash game website Kongregate uses this to great effect. Using their API, they have their own achievement system that involves winning ‘badges’ for completing various accomplishments in games. When a badge is earned, the API in Flash sends a response back to JavaScript, which then uses AJAX to update the user’s profile with the newly earned award.
    
    Plugin: jQuery Flash Plugin