February 18, 2025
Today marks exactly 20 years since Jesse James Garrett invented AJAX, which added a new level of interactivity to web applications. Garrett's AJAX concept was a major contribution to the Web 2.0 paradigm after he founded Adaptive Path, a design and user experience company, in 2001.
Web applications primarily used server-side processing in the early 2000s, resulting in a laborious user experience where every action required loading a new HTML page. Garrett aimed to improve the responsiveness of the web after noticing that desktop programs worked more efficiently.
The introduction of programs such as Google's Gmail and the social network Orkut in 2004 marked a sea change as they demonstrated better interaction design and performance through asynchronous data transfers. By using JavaScript to make HTTP(S) requests in the background, these applications were able to dynamically update the website without requiring a full reload.
In response to questions from customers wanting to use comparable technologies, Garrett argued that JavaScript and XML should be used instead of slower options like Flash that required additional plugins. In 1999, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 had already laid the foundation for asynchronous data transfer with the release of Microsoft.XMLHTTP, initially created to support background HTTP(S) requests.
Looking for a catchy and understandable moniker, Garrett came up with the acronym Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or AJAX, after realizing how complex the technology involved was. In a 2005 blog post, he introduced AJAX, praising new interaction patterns that later became commonplace in web applications, like dynamic maps and real-time search recommendations.
With its widespread use, AJAX has become a key component of Web 2.0, defined by more dynamic, interactive, and collaborative online experiences. As web technology advanced, AJAX's need for XML gave way to JSON, and new interfaces such as the fetch API and single-page application frameworks emerged, continuing AJAX's legacy of providing reliable, offline-compatible online applications.
Although the term AJAX is not used as often today, the interaction patterns it spawned have persisted, radically changing the way online applications work and elevating the user experience to levels that desktop applications once dominated.
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