Why using AJAX on the microwave may be a bad idea
Let us start by clearing up some of the confusion caused by the mashup[1] of wordplay that makes up this article's title. The AJAX I am referring to is the Web programming style[2] not the domestic detergent[3]. The microwave, however, is simply a household microwave.
I had cause to use my microwave this morning. It has a fine array of buttons and knobs which I'm sure do all sorts of clever things but I never use them. The temperature dial is set to "high" - permanently. Whatever I need to do, I put it in the microwave, zap it for a couple of minutes. If the result is not yet to my liking I just zap it again. I keep doing this until I get what I want.
You might think this behavior odd coming from a gadget freak and computer geek. After all, I have probably used every conceivable knob and button my favorite operating system[4] and favorite programming language[5] have to offer. Why the disparity with how I use a microwave?
A clue can be found I think in the way I use search engines. I go to the search box, type in a word or two and hit "search". I keep doing this over and over again until I find what I want. I know there are all sorts of "advanced features" in search engines but I don't use them. I treat them the way I treat microwaves.
Perhaps I am the only person on the planet who - with full knowledge and consent - ignores a lot of the advanced stuff microwaves and search engines can do, but I doubt it. There are some applications which work best from a user interface perspective when the interface is dumbed down to the smallest interaction that could possibly work. Users like me prefer trial and error and an element of chance to reading the manual for this sort of application.
Web browsers have limited user interface capabilities. In the early days, some folks were of the opinion that these limitations would severely inhibit the popularity in web applications. The reality of course turned out to be completely different. Out of pure necessity, designers built applications where all you had to do - all you could do - was point at things and then click. The rest is history.
Users did not suffer on with the "limitations" this created. They positively thrived with the limitations. From my perspective, it was as if lot of interesting applications started to behave like my microwave all of a sudden.
These days, web browsers are growing in functionality. The buzzword-du-jour is AJAX. AJAX is a programming style that allows user interface features previously available only in traditional thick-client applications to be used in thin-client web browser applications.
This is progress right?
I would answer with a qualified 'yes'. If application designers get carried away adding user interface features, this may be to the detriment of applications that thrive in a simple user interface world.
Used sensibly, AJAX can certainly help make Web applications easier to use but used inappropriately, one of the key benefits of the web - abject simplicity - may be lost.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_(web_application_hybrid)
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX
[3] http://www.shoplet.com/office/db/gCPAG2504.html