Bulletproof Ajax [Anglais] [Broché]

Bulletproof AJAX by Jeremy Keith was an excellent beginners book to AJAX. For those who have read Bulletproof Web Design by Dan Cederholm, this book literally took the same approach. The book starts with the very basics and walks you to the end where you create a fictional bookstore that utilizes AJAX. Each chapter addresses what it means to make an AJAX application bulletproof. The author is brutally honest while informing you the barriers that AJAX faces, and how to get around them. Sometimes the best solution is: don't use AJAX. Obviously, this isn't the case for everything - or there wouldn't be a book to read. I appreciated the approach of making sure that your AJAX applications utilize progressive enhancement and are unobtrusive. These are two key elements when dealing with JavaScript as a whole. The entire journey of this brief (but informative) 200 page book looked a little like this:

Chapter 1 answers the question "What is AJAX?" and gives a brief introduction and history lesson as to it's origins. This is very basic, but begins to get your feet wet understanding that AJAX is not a new technology - but one that has recently hit the spotlight.

Chapter 2 gives a thorough overview of the Document Object Model. He explains what the DOM is, how it relates to your structured HTML and Javascript, and the methods associated with traversing the DOM. This is very important as he moves forward to create unobtrusive AJAX.

Chapter 3 dives into the XMLHttpRequest object, its origins, and how to create a bulletproof instance of the object. This handles the differences between IE and other browsers and how they implement the request. He creates a wrapper for use (and use through the rest of the book) that allows us to send requests, receive responses, and then position it accordingly in the DOM.

Chapter 4 covers the Data Formats that are returned by our request. These include XML, JSON, and HTML. He covers each data format, and creates another wrapper for retrieving the different data formats.

Chapter 5 introduces HIJAX. This is where he irons out some of his previous scripts. Initially inline scripts were used as examples, but with HIJAX we see how we can create bulletproof implementations of AJAX. Topics covered here include progressive enhancement, unobtrusive Javascript, and rich clients.

Chapter 6 forces us to hit a wall (briefly). This chapter discussed the challenges that AJAX faces (and has faced in the past). Some of the challenges revolve around web services and connecting to remote API's, making your application backwards compatible, how to work around browser inconsistencies and consistencies (The back button and bookmarking), and how to wireframe an application that will change in each section.

Chapter 7 discusses accessibility in relation to AJAX. One of the most frustrating parts for any application moving forward is dealing properly with screen readers. Screen readers are incredible tools, but since they sit on top of an existing browser it can make some things rather difficult (especially checking for the existence of Javascript).

Chapter 8 starts to wrap things up. Taking everything we have learned to this point, he discusses planning, applying, and bulletproofing your application.

Chapter 9, the final chapter, looks to the future of AJAX. Not only did it discuss the future - it covered many of the current frameworks available. He does a great job of discussing the good and bad of using frameworks - and where frameworks are best suited.

Overall, this book was a great read. This book is geared for the beginner, and I believe it will help a user have a complete grasp of AJAX. AJAX is a tricky subject, and Jeremy does a great job of tackling each subject in great detail. This book would go well with a Javascript book to help you bulletproof your applications. This is a must read for those who are interested in understanding AJAX and its place in the world of web standards.

Jeremy Keith has been on forefront of upcoming web practices for quite awhile now. He is a member of the Web Standards Project, joint lead of the DOM Scripting Task Force, stresses web standards and accessibly in web design. His website addaciao.com is a great resource of material on the subject and you can pretty much find him at almost any web conference in the world nowadays.

This is his second book (Dom Scripting), and it pretty much continues his relentless pursuits of accessibility and unobtrusiveness wherever JavaScript is involved. This book focuses on the creating well structured Ajax web applications but making sure the reader does not forget the most important thing about web sites: their content. If all this fancy-shaky, bells and whistles Ajax stuff prevents a disabled user using a screen reader to be able to view your website content, what is the point?

The book is aimed (like his first) at web designers as opposed to programmers. Jeremy does not use fancy techo-bable when regular simple English will suffice. He wants to make sure that anybody can understands the concepts of Ajax and its components (JavaScript, XML, XMLHTTPRequest) can be used properly by anybody who is willing to read it. Not too many books are written like this (unfortunately) and it is a joy to read. Though when you actually see it and how short it is (barely 200 pages with index), you may thing..."this is too short for me to get anything out of this". But you would be so wrong. There are around 10 or so Ajax books out there now (more on the way I'm sure), and I probably have at least half them. I would put this as probably I the top 2 of all the Ajax books out there. IF you are really going to immerse yourself in learning and using Ajax, I would suggest getting one more "BIG" reference type book on it and that would all you would need. This is a must-buy for anybody wanting to learn Ajax with standards, accessibility in mind.

Ok, enough about how much I like this book, on with some details about the book:

Chapter 1: A nicely illustrated introduction of what Ajax is what pieces comprise it, who started using it, how it is used and why it is so "hype" right now.

Chapter 2: A very nice introduction to JavaScript and DOM basics. Honestly, this chapters takes about the best of Jeremy's DOM Scripting Book and condenses it into about 10 pages. Of course it is just a overview of the DOM methods and a brief explanation of each, but it is all you really need to get started. You should buy his DOM Scripting book if you want to get some hands-on experience with the DOM. Or get the JavaScript Reference book from oreilly which is a JavaScript encyclopedia of everything there is to know about it.

Chapter 3: XMLHttpRequest - The "meat-and-potatoes" of how Ajax works. Jeremy does a great job of explaning the history of how this object got first developed (IE 5 - XMLRequest) and is used with proper object detection.

Chapter 4: Jeremy discusses the good and bad of using XML and JSON to transport data. Very helpful.

Chapter 5: Hijax: Jeremys own creating of progressive enhancement and Ajax. He continues his "unobtrusive JavaScript" techniques with DOM Scripting and goes into the Ajax arena. No other book that I have seen talks about this topic when dealing with Ajax. All I see in other books is using fancy APIs and Patterns, but what if JavaScript is unavailable? Now what will your web app do? Obviously not much unless you read this chapter.

Chapter 6: Tough obstacles when developing Ajax apps such as: Bookmarking, Back button, user feedback are discusses to make sure the user experience continues to be a good one.

Chapter 7: Screen readers and Ajax - A tough sell.

Chapter 8: Putting it all together - A nice complete Ajax web app (Book Shopping Cart) that takes everything Jeremy has talked about up till now

Chapter: The Future? A discussion of the different frameworks available: Dojo, prototype, script.aculo.us, Y! UI, JQuery and mochikit.

As I've said before even though this book is short, the bang for the buck is more than any other Ajax book on the market today, hands down. Go out and buy it!

"Bulletproof Ajax" is an indispensable resource for any front-end web designer, developer, or interaction designer who is involved or is planning on being involved in a project that includes Ajax techniques. Whether working on an in-house team or as an independent consultant, you'll need to understand the pros and cons of using this popular and somewhat controversial method of serving web pages.

This is not a book for web designers who don't want to code. In order to benefit from this book, you'll need a strong understanding of semantic XHTML and CSS. A passing familiarity with JavaScript is a definite plus as well. (Keith's previous book, DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model, is a good place to start.) Chapter 2 begins with an excellent overview of JavaScript terms and functions--the best I've read. (Until you become familiar with JavaScript statements, variables, data types, etc., you'll no doubt be referring back to this chapter often!)

I found that "Bulletproof Ajax's" greatest strength is presenting ways to evaluate why and how a project should or shouldn't include Ajax:

1. Is Ajax appropriate for the project?
2. If yes, how will we most effectively implement Ajax?
3. How will we provide for site visitors who don't have JavaScript enabled on their browsers?
4. How will we address accessibility issues?

In Chapter 5, Keith elaborates on a technique he calls Hijax (which he introduced in DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model). This technique applies two key concepts of modern web design: progressive enhancement and graceful degradation. Although Hijax isn't the answer to all Ajax issues, the idea goes a long way towards ensuring that your carefully crafted Ajax goodness doesn't alienate and/or exclude non-JavaScript site visitors.

Simply put, "Bulletproof Ajax" will allow YOU (the front-end guys and gals) to communicate with THEM (the back-end guys and gals) about Ajax and its implementation. This book can help you and your team clarify expectations about Ajax, implement user-centered solutions, and, in all likelihood, save you time and money too.