I love Ajax

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Since December 2006, I have been enjoying the tech world a lot more than I thought I ever would. What’s not to love? Social networking, speedy instant messaging, Vista, the Wii, RSS feeds, building blogs….

I’m now at a stage where my nearest and dearest believe I’m some sort of a new age geek. A cross breed of a digital marketer and blogger, meets wannabe chef and sports fan. I hold my hands up and whole heartedly agree. Why not embrace these new treats and enjoy the tools that are now available to us?

The thing that has continued to impress me over the past six months is Ajax.

Wikipedia: "Ajax (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), is a group of inter-related web development techniques used for creating interactive web applications."

Ultimately most people are impressed by functionality, but as my team mates remind me every day, I like things to look ‘pretty’. Until recently, I was an advertiser’s dream. The packaging was key, with usability coming close behind. For me, Ajax achieves both of these key elements to a very impressive degree.

I’m pretty sure that most people who use popular sites like Facebook aren’t aware they’re using an Ajax system, or for that matter, really care… and then there’s the new BBC site; allowing you to customise your own homepage with whatever BBC content you’re most interested in.

Basically, the way the world is moving, and the pace at which consumers are now living their lives means information must be informative, relevant and accessible. If it isn’t, then the information supplier looses credibility and inevitability users. And just to quickly revert back to my earlier point about how I like things to look good, or rather, slick… I really like the fact Ajax allows you to move content, style the design and customize a site to make it feel like your own. Personalisation is the key.

Here’s my top five sites that I would highly recommend having a proper look at:

1) BBC

2) Facebook

3) Netvibes

4) Google

5)  YouTube