¶ Just recently on Stylish Scripting, Simon Willison introduced the possibilities presented by the XMLHttpRequest extension to JavaScript:
XMLHttpRequest is one of modern DHTML’s best kept secrets. If you haven’t encountered it before, it’s a method of making an HTTP call back to the hosting web server without refreshing the whole page – a kind of remote scripting on steroids. Originally a Microsoft extension, it’s been adapted by both the Mozilla browser family and (as of version 1.2) Safari.
It’s my understanding that Google uses XMLHttpRequest extensively in Gmail to help make it so fast and desktop application-like.
Comments
1
I’ve been experimenting with javascript remote procedure calls (the same thing as XMLHttpRequests). Here’s the fruits of my labour:
http://richardathome.no-ip.com/index.php?article_id=317
2
I got to use XLHTTPRequest when working on s1homes.com a few months ago. Which was fun. Getting it to work with Opera required me to invent one of the most evil evil twisted javscript hacks ever.
....
Did you know in Opera you can change the src attribute of a script tag?
Even now I shiver to think of it. But it works so it can’t be that bad.
3
I think that deviantART (.com) uses this as well, for the live submission count on their home page…. not sure though.
4
DeviantArt’s submission counter is hardcoded JavaScript. It is not live.
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