Recommended Book - AJAX in Action

I have to say that this is one of the most useful books I’ve ever had. Before I’ve even gotten to the actual code in it, just the methods and style they bring out in the first few introductory chapters are invaluable, whether applied to javascript or any other programming project. And it goes into web-specific information that all web designers and developers should know in a readable and understandable way.

http://www.manning.com/books/crane

Been reading it too. It’s not bad...definitely some good stuff in there. Only problem I have is that the writer goes all over the place with the code. At times it just seems quite disconnected and I find myself having to flip back and forth between pages just to see what the hell he’s talking about. Other than that it’s pretty good!

Question.

Thinking about the MODx Framework and what may be included in the future and also Ruby on Rails where I have read it includes Ajax effects what are your thoughts regarding the whole Web 2.0 thing. I mean, with so much to keep up with these days which is the best new technologies to learn that will allow us to deliver the best user experience built on MODx. Is there a clear direction ?

MODx includes Prototype 1.4 and Scriptaculous 1.5. Future versions will most likely include Behavior as well. I would really love to investigate the Moo.fx stuff simply because it’s so much lighter for client-side applications. I’m not really all that concerned about manager pages.

Therefore Ryan,

using your wisdom, is it fair to say, focus on getting 100% to grips with all aspects of Modx and as new versions come with new features there will be plenty of opportunties to use Web2 type techniques without having to step outside of the framework ?

There’s plenty of opportunities just using Prototype + Scriptaculous, now.

Thanks Ryan

That really does help clear my thoughts, especially as MODx is going to be such a major part of what we do

Ehmm...
So far, all the raw material had been provided by MODx, all we need is just the right ingredient, or adding another layer of abstraction on top of MODx.

So anyway, I’m planning to use SAJAX to top it of ontop of MODx, to allow RAD on building Web 2.0 application on the web. I will research more onto this, due to the heavy load from SAJAX itself. If I can find a much lighter library for connecting PHP and JS, then I’ll surely let y’all know.

Hi Edge,

I would just like to let you know that future versions of MODx will be using Web 2.0 technology at best.

Thanks Raymond.

I also took a good look at Prototype + Scriptaculous as suggested by Ryan, had not fully appreciated that Ruby and Ajax were supported so I think I will stay within the framework of these sites as well as MODx as that should mean I will be prepared when future version of MODx support Web2.0