Ajax/ AJAX – An Introduction

Ajax/ AJAX is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. It is a Web 2.0 technique employed in developing interactive web applications. Web pages that have been developed using Ajax exchange data with the server behind the scene. Consequently, every time a user makes changes, they are incorporated without reloading of the whole web page.

Asynchronous: XML data loading and normal HTML and JavaScript web page loading are asynchronous. In other words, they do not interfere with each other.

JavaScript: JavaScript is a programming language. Ajax function calls are created using JavaScript.

XML: Data exchange in Ajax takes place in XML format.

Advantages of Ajax

1. A web page developed on Ajax has higher:

o Speed

o Interactivity

o Functionality

2. The HTML of a web page can be accessed/ produced in the browser itself. Thus, Ajax effectively decreases the bandwidth consumption.

3. With a jumble of techniques and languages, Ajax gives programmers the freedom to adopt and adapt features as per their requirement.

4. Ajax enables a programmer to have a neat separation among different elements of a web page.

o Data/ content to be uploaded: XML format

o Structure/ Format of a web page: HTML/ XHTML made available in the DOM

o Style (images, fonts, etc.): CSS

o Functionality: JavaScript/ HTTP/ XMLHttp

A few things to be kept in mind while using Ajax

1. The request-response interval should be minimal, with clear feedback to the user.
2. Back button and bookmarking are issues that have to be taken into account for dynamic web pages to be developed on Ajax.
3. Data that has to be indexed needs to be provided in a search engine friendly format. This is because search engines often skip JavaScript coded content that in turn is a main element of Ajax-based web sites.

Also read on MS blog:

Web 2.0 - The Latest Buzz in Internet Technology

Web 2.0 - An Effective Business Tool

Web 2.0 - The Modern Success Mantra

Pondering over Podcasts?

What is a Podcast?

A single digital (audio/ video) file or series of digital files that can be distributed over the web, which in turn can be played by users on their computers or media players, is known as a podcast. The process of undertaking this is called podcasting and the host of a podcast is known as a podcaster. The first podcasts were developed for Apple iPod – a world renowned portable media player.

What a Podcast does?

Simply speaking, what a podcast does is to broadcast content over portable media players. The good thing about podcasts is that they can be syndicated (and thus distributed) via Atom and RSS feeds, subscribed to by users and when the content is upgraded, it can actually be downloaded automatically! Moreover, you have the freedom to listen/ watch a podcast whenever and wherever you want!

Podcasting covers programs on a whole range of subjects, be it a commercial or a non-commercial venture – videos and audios on any topic under the sun, advertisements, cartoons, music, business presentations, etc. In a way, podcasting is the Internet version of broadcasting or telecasting programs on radio and TV respectively.

Anyone for Etymology?

There are two schools of thought on this. One opines that the term ‘podcast’ is a blend of “iPod” and “broadcast”, as one can actually broadcast stuff on a portable media player.

Others believe that a PODCAST stands for Portable On-Demand (broad-/ tele-)CASTing of files over the Internet.

What all do I need to be a Podcaster?

All you need to be a podcaster is a recording device – a microphone for audio/ a digital camera for video; audio/ video editing software in your computer; and lastly, a website to embed your podcast feeds to. It’s as simple as that!

How does a Podcast benefit me?

• You can subscribe to podcasts of your choice, which will be downloaded automatically.

• You can enjoy your favourite podcasts anytime according to your convenience.

• You can be popular via the podcasts you create!

For the business minded…

• A podcast can increase the online visibility of your business.

• You can communicate about your products and services to a wide network of people.

• You can become a trusted advisor to your clients and potential customers.

• You can be a subject matter expert in your line of business, and this in turn will fetch you more customers.

• You can establish a communication network with your target customers.

• You can be a resource base for online users who desire to know more about your products and services.

• Podcasts can be a very effective brand marketing strategy.

• And last but not the least, you can put an innovative and contemporary touch to your existing business.

Some websites that host podcasts

There are a lot of websites that offer free or paid hosting of your podcasts, such as Blip.tv, Libsyn, Podbean, Podcastfm, Switchpod, Jellycast, etc., to name a few.

NOTE: Podcasting is a Web 2.0 technology.

Web 2.0: The Modern Success Mantra

During one of our brainstorming sessions at Modulus Systems today, we sat down to discuss what exactly makes a website Web 2.0; is it the concept of user interaction, or is it just use of a different generation of technologies, or is it a society thing, where interactivity of users is necessary?

After a long session and many to and fros, we all agreed to one factor that definitely separates a Web2.0 site from the crowd of look alikes. Earlier, webmasters used to add content to the website for others to read and respond. Probably ModulusSystems.com is an example.

A web site can be called Web 2.0 when it has all, or "almost all" content added by its users.

Examples are youtube.com, myspace.com, facebook.com, digg.com, orkut.com and others.

We visited Alexa.com - A website that ranks websites based on how many people use them. What Alexa does is, it encourages you to install the Alexa toolbar on your browser. At present it supports Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. This toolbar sends small snippets of data to the Alexa server, telling it which websites the user is surfing and by gradually increasing their rankings. Today millions of users use the Alexa toolbar to view international ranks of websites and in return give away their surfing details, thus contributing to making Alexa ranks of websites even more genuine. However, I do not believe that a web site ranked 344,000 is necessarily visited by more people than the one ranked 350,000. It purely depends on people who have the toolbar installed, and not everyone in general. Thats one reason why US websites have higher ranks than websites from the rest of the world.

Having said that, I do believe that for the top few websites, Alexa rankings do tell a near-accurate story.

Here's the list of top 10 websites according to Alexa:



Out of the top 10 websites today, a massive 5 are Web 2.0 sites and rest are search engines. If you take the top 15, you'll see another 4 out of 5 joining the list.

Web 2.0 is the new success mantra and with new user-user interaction websites launching everyday, I'm sure some cool Web 2.0 projects are under development somewhere, waiting to come out and add to our present world of optimised surfing - The Web 2.0 way.

Folksonomy Unveiled

What is Folksonomy?

Folksonomy is the process of collaborative creation and management of tags in order to categorize content on the web. Also known as social tagging, social indexing, collaborative tagging or social classification, folksonomy is a taxonomy that is managed by users themselves. Folksonomies became popular with the advent of social software applications in the like of social bookmarking sites. Websites that utilize folksonomy are based on Web 2.0 principles that facilitate easy participation by users.

Origin

Folksonomy = Folk + Taxonomy

The term “folksonomy” was coined by Thomas Vander Wal in 2004 during a discussion on information architecture mailing list.

What are Tag Clouds?

A system by which the classifying tags are presented to the user in a visual format. This is done in such a way that the most used tags in a particular folksonomy are shown in a bold size.

Folksonomy versus Taxonomy

Folksonomy essentially subverts the status quo of taxonomic classification in the earlier w3 setup. It breaks free from the hitherto monopoly of search engines to provide the user with resources of information. Sites based on folksonomy provide facilities to the user for creating and utilizing tags. In fact, folksonomy creation and search parameters are quite different from those of taxonomies in the World Wide Web protocols.

Merits of Folksonomy

• It becomes easier to search for and navigate over content.

• Categories of information are more accessible to end-users.

Web 2.0 – An Effective Business Tool

The entrepreneur world has always hailed the web as an important marketing tool. But the fact remains that it is quite hard though not impossible, for companies that are little-known to attract potential customers to their websites. Certainly, Search Engine Optimization techniques and things like pay-per-click campaigns lend a helping hand to entrepreneurs, still a vast pool of customers remains to be tapped.

That’s where a whole new world of technologies fits in the prevailing gap-tooth of marketing and business promotion. A static website of yore has evolved into a dynamic experience, keeping customers involved with the products and services on offer in a number of interesting ways – audio, video, images and a whole body of community-generated content. You name it; we have it – thanks to Web 2.0.

The new low-cost promotion tools powered by Web 2.0 help businesses reach out to customers on an ever-widening scale. Statistics reveal that more than 400,000 small and medium business companies all over the world are already using two of the best known new-age tools – blogs and webcasts. Another 260,000 businesses are taking advantage of podcasts. In other words, about 660,000 entrepreneurs across the globe are enhancing their business reach through the latest web developments.

The next in the line could very well be YOU!

Web 2.0 – The Latest Buzz in Internet Technology

Following is an attempt at laying bare facts about Web 2.0 that are of help not only to professionals in this field but to laymen internet users as well. Being first in this series, this article will soon be followed by informational pieces that reveal the truth about some of the other mysteries of the internet fast emerging as a result of constant innovation in the web world. Happy reading!

Web 2.0 Defined

Web 2.0 is the second generation of web-based communities and services that promotes collaboration among users. Apparently, Web 2.0 looks like a new version of the W3 but in reality, Web 2.0 is an evolved way in which software developers and end-users partake of the web as a platform. Web based services such as social book-marking sites (for example, Digg, Del.icio.us and Reddit), blogs (quite becoming a rage these days!), community sites (such as Orkut, Hi5), RSS Feeds, etc. being an offshoot of Web 2.0, have transformed the way the Internet is being used today.

Some more pointers towards Web 2.0

o Content is the focal point.

o Users can have complete control over their data and content.

o The web interface is interactive in nature and quite user-friendly.

o The facility of social-networking is available.

Technological Features

o Rich internet application techniques, mostly Ajax based

o Micro-formats and semantically valid HTML mark-up

o Cascading style sheets that demarcate presentation from content

o ‘Folksonomies’ (in the like of Tags and Tag Clouds)

o Syndication and aggregation of data through Atom feeds or RSS

o URLs that are readable by human users

o Wiki software that provides forums for displaying user-generated content

o Content publishing through weblogs

Latest in the world of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 now has gone global! It has expanded its wings from the cosy environs of the San Francisco Bay area to newer horizons worldwide. In the first half of 2007, the number of global deals on Web 2.0 has witnessed a rise of 14 percent. Moreover, Web 2.0 technology has increased the economic value of the web manifold.