AJAX, jQuery, et. al.

[KingAl]

I heartily approve, the number of page loads is one of my few reservations with phpBB. (Not that anyone else does it better.)

[Sam]

The problem with heavily AJAX sites, however, when you do have do a page load, there is a certain feeling the page, as if it is very heavy. It just feels sluggish loading even on a good connection, and there is a lot of client side work to do for the set up. I, personally, would be sad to see phpBB use AJAX as a replacement for pages. Sure, it can probably help situations like the 'More Smilies' box, but where you tend to click around a lot, AJAX will feel too heavy. The use of AJAX (or even JavaScript) has its place, and that's pure front end enhancement, not a replacement for separate and unique pages.

[DavidIQ]

What and write our own cross browser JS library? I think not.

Writing some functions to handle simple AJAX that are cross-browser friendly isn't that hard If you get into more complex events and features then adding jQuery would be the way to go of course.

[EXreaction]

The problem with heavily AJAX sites, however, when you do have do a page load, there is a certain feeling the page, as if it is very heavy. It just feels sluggish loading even on a good connection, and there is a lot of client side work to do for the set up. I, personally, would be sad to see phpBB use AJAX as a replacement for pages. Sure, it can probably help situations like the 'More Smilies' box, but where you tend to click around a lot, AJAX will feel too heavy. The use of AJAX (or even JavaScript) has its place, and that's pure front end enhancement, not a replacement for separate and unique pages.

There is a difference between proper use of javascript and improper use of it. Very few sites use javascript properly, but those that do use it properly never make the experience worse or make it "feel too heavy". Also, I don't know what you mean for using AJAX to replace pages. AJAX is just a layer above the standard interface that is supposed to make things faster and easier for the user, other than simple prompts it is really not used to replace pages ever.

[Sam]

There is a difference between proper use of javascript and improper use of it. Very few sites use javascript properly, but those that do use it properly never make the experience worse or make it "feel too heavy". Also, I don't know what you mean for using AJAX to replace pages. AJAX is just a layer above the standard interface that is supposed to make things faster and easier for the user, other than simple prompts it is really not used to replace pages ever.

Some websites that use a lot of AJAX have a single page you sit on, while the AJAX dynamically loads content within this page. I, personally, am not a JavaScript person, but I do agree that sites do misuse it, as well as other pieces of web software.

[EXreaction]

Yes, that is horrible abuse of javascript, everything needed for the page should be loaded on the page, not after using AJAX.

[Dog Cow]

Yes, that is horrible abuse of javascript, everything needed for the page should be loaded on the page, not after using AJAX.

Have you examined how Google's search results are presented?

[bobtheman]

We should certainly aim for an API that can deal with both a plain HTML frontend and AJAX.

agreed, but including ajax/jquery is a must... the acp, mcp, ucp... and front end desperately needs it.

[jwxie]

The only place where ajax and jquery or heavy javascript actions - is where users do not want to reload or to be redirect to another page or the same page (for update)

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[Eelke]

As for user confirmation, recently usability experts suggest its actually better to execute user commands immediately, but allow users to undo their actions. Confirmations have become something that people will almost automatically just confirm, and may still end up regretting their action. Of course completely unrelated to AJAX, but wanted to throw it out there anyway.

I agree phpBB needs to cut down on the number of complete pages served, but I don't necesarrily see that AJAX is the desperately needed answer. One source of excessive page requests are messages boxes, stating a topic has been posted, or other user feedback. This can easily be replaced by a messaging system, where a special screen area is reserved for feedback from previous actions, if any.