http://www.w3schools.com/ajax

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AJAX Uses HTTP Requests

In traditional JavaScript coding, if you want to get any information from a database or a file on the server, or send user information to a server, you will have to make an HTML form and GET or POST data to the server. The user will have to click the "Submit" button to send/get the information, wait for the server to respond, then a new page will load with the results.

Because the server returns a new page each time the user submits input, traditional web applications can run slowly and tend to be less user-friendly.

With AJAX, your JavaScript communicates directly with the server, through the JavaScript XMLHttpRequest object

With an HTTP request, a web page can make a request to, and get a response from a web server - without reloading the page. The user will stay on the same page, and he or she will not notice that scripts request pages, or send data to a server in the background.

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The XMLHttpRequest Object

By using the XMLHttpRequest object, a web developer can update a page with data from the server after the page has loaded!

AJAX was made popular in 2005 by Google (with Google Suggest).

Google Suggest is using the XMLHttpRequest object to create a very dynamic web interface: When you start typing in Google's search box, a JavaScript sends the letters off to a server and the server returns a list of suggestions.

The XMLHttpRequest object is supported in Internet Explorer 5.0+, Safari 1.2, Mozilla 1.0 / Firefox, Opera 8+, and Netscape 7.