20 Excellent Websites for Learning Ajax

Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is a technology that allows for highly-interactive and responsive browser-based applications. By leveraging the XMLHttpRequest object, seamless communication with the server can be achieved for a smooth and dynamic user experience. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about Ajax, there are many sites out there that’ll help you “grok” Ajax and the various technologies surrounding it.

Here are 20 top-notch websites that cover the subject of Ajax.

1. Ajax resource center (developerWorks)

developerWorks, a resource center for developers and IT professionals by IBM, has a dedicated Ajax resource center that hosts plenty of tutorials on Ajax. developerWorks tutorials are in-depth and lengthy, and you can learn a variety of information and techniques from them such as creating RIA applications with jQuery and Ajax, learning about Ajax security tools, and building an Ajax-based chat system.

2. Mozilla Developer Center (AJAX)

The Mozilla Developer Center has an AJAX section that’s a great starting point for beginning developers or those that need to brush up on Ajax.  The Getting Started guide on MDN is an excellent starting point to learn about the basic concepts of Ajax. Another MDN guide you might be interested in reading is the entry on XMLHttpRequest, the primary mode of communicating with server-side scripts in typical Ajax approaches.

3. AJAX Today

AJAX Today is a community-driven website where members can submit links on the topic of Ajax. AJAX Today organizes submitted links in useful categories such as AJAX Tutorials and Ajax Podcasts; you can subscribe to each individual category via RSS so that only topics that you’re interested in will be displayed in your RSS feed reader.

4. ajax.solutoire.com

ajax.solutoire.com is a large, one-page directory-style listing of online Ajax resources created by Software Engineer, Bas Wenneker. ajax.solutoire.com is conveniently sub-divided into various categories such as Ajax news and Ajax/JavaScript security. Bas Wenneker also runs Solutoire.com, a personal weblog that talks about web development topics such as JavaScript and MooTools.

5. SitePoint: JavaScript & Ajax Tutorials

SitePoint, a web publication focused on providing web professionals useful and relevant information, has a JavaScript & Ajax Tutorials section that’s great for developers who learn well by reading practical tutorials. You can follow along (and learn from) tutorials such as “Use AJAX and PHP to Build your Mailing List” and “Take Command with Ajax“.

6. Encosia

Encosia is a blog by Dave Ward, who writes about the subject of web development (primarily ASP.NET and Ajax). Encosia has plenty of tutorials that discuss topics such as how to display data updates in real-time and how to use jQuery for interactively searching data. Encosia is an top-notch resource on Ajax – especially for developers working with ASP.NET as you can read ASP.NET/Ajax-specific articles like “Are you making these 3 common ASP.NET AJAX mistakes?”.

7. Ajax Technology Center

The Ajax Technology Center is a part of the Adobe Developer Connection, a resource site for web developers and designers. The Ajax Technology Center provides handy articles and tutorials on topics such as Adobe AIR for Ajax developers and Adding Ajax components to Dreamweaver projects.

8. Ajax Blog

Ajax Blog is a weblog on the topic of Ajax. Ajax Blog has plenty of categories to help you quickly find specific information you’re looking for. If you’re searching for Ajax tutorials and examples, jump right to the Ajax Tutorials and Ajax Examples category.

9. AJAX Matters

AJAX Matters is a weblog on Ajax technology. Launched in 2004, AJAX Matters is one of the first blogs dedicated to discussing Ajax. They have plenty of helpful tutorials on matters like getting started with Ajax and PHP or learning about the Google Web Tookit

10. Ajaxonomy

Ajaxonomy is a blog by a group of web developers whose intent is to share and discuss information on Ajax. If you’re seeking out Ajax tutorials, you can go directly to blog posts tagged with Tutorials where you’ll find an aggregate of posts that either share tricks and techniques related to Ajax technologies (such as server-side caching in PHP) or reviews of tutorials elsewhere on the web.

11. Ajaxian

Ajaxian is the premier weblog dedicated to reporting new developments in Ajax. Ajaxian publishes a variety of regularly-updated Ajax topics, including a Tutorial topic which shares Ajax-related tips and tutorials. With a staff full of top web professionals in the field of web development, Ajaxian is a foremost resource for Ajax news and information.

12. Ajaxlines

Ajaxlines is a website that aims to provide its audience with Ajax-related news, resources, and tutorials. It reports on news and information from a wide variety of resources, and gives readers the opportunity to discover articles in one site.

13. AJAX Magazine

AJAX Magazine, which is part of the PHP Magazine Network, is a webzine that covers the subject of Ajax. There’s a wide range of categories to help you find information that you’re interested in including an Ajax tutorials category that reports on useful Ajax tutorials and more specific categories like the Ajax and .NET category.

14. InsideRIA

 InsideRIA is an O’reilly Media community website on Rich Internet Applications (RIA for short). You will find a host of articles pertaining to building highly-interactive web applications such as writing your first YUI Application (YUI is Yahoo!’s JavaScript library), and Ajax Frameworks for High Traffic Sites. Check out articles tagged with ajax to conveniently find Ajax-specific topics.

15. AJAX Impact

AJAX Impact is committed to delivering information on Ajax. Check out the Ajax Tutorial section to find a list of tutorials on Ajax. If you’re curious on finding examples of websites (organized into types of websites) be sure to go to the “Sites Using Ajax” section on AJAX Impact.

16. AJAXwith.com

AJAXwith.com is a community-driven site where you can submit resources on “Ajax with [fill in the blank]” (i.e. “Ajax with PHP”). They have an AJAX forum with close to 4,000 members which may be useful when you’re in need of help on a specific issue.

17. David Walsh Blog

Web developer David Walsh provides useful tips and tutorials for all levels of web designers and developers on his personal blog, David Walsh Blog. He writes about a range of topics related to web development, and has an Ajax topic to help you speedily find articles that discuss Ajax. His tutorials on Ajax include “Ajax Username Availability Checker Using MooTools 1.2” and “Periodical Ajax Requests Using MooTools 1.2“.

18. Ajax Projects

Ajax Projects is a directory-style listing of Ajax web projects. They have an excellent Tutorials section which lists plenty of Ajax-related tutorials from several resources such as “PHP ajax login form using Jquery”, “Google Analytics: Tracking AJAX and Flash”, and “How to structure your JavaScript code”.

19. Agile Ajax

Agile Ajax is a section on Pathfinder Development (a software development and UX design company) that shares information on the topic of Ajax. Some posts you’ll see in Agile Ajax include “App Security: Throw Out the Org Chart!” and “Scriptaculous: Fixing Hover After Highlight“.

20. Ajax Patterns

Ajax Patterns is a wiki-style, community-driven website for Ajax information. If you’d like to see common Ajax design patterns, check out the Examples entry. Ajax Patterns also has a section on Ajax demos which showcases demonstrations of Ajax patterns (great for individuals who want to see practical applications of Ajax techniques).

Got any more to share?

If you have a website that’s helped you learn about Ajax, feel free to share it with us in the comments!

Related content

• 25 Excellent Ajax Techniques and Examples
• Graphing/Charting Data on Web Pages: JavaScript Solutions
• 10 Promising JavaScript Frameworks
• Learning MooTools: MooTools Tutorials and Examples
• 16 Free JavaScript Solutions for Displaying Your Images