Written by Jon Bergan on the 11/11/2007
Welcome back to Web 2.0 – the stylish, dynamic and fast paced environment we now know as the World Wide Web. We are now in 2007, and the web has evolved into a medium where content is king and a magnificent user interface is of the upmost importance to a web drifter’s experience. With the recent increase in popularity of AJAX and the aging of Flash-based websites, we now have to decide which platform reigns supreme.
To clarify things a little, Flash is a vector-based multimedia format developed by Macromedia for use on the web. It was recently purchased by Adobe along with Macromedia’s entire product line and is now included in most of the Adobe Creative Suite’s that are on the market. Flash is an extremely popular platform for websites that require dynamic or animation rich content. You’ll notice a lot of Flash elements in sites that tie in with the entertainment industry.
AJAX on the other hand is a set of scripting languages used to create web-based applications that behave more like software applications. AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML as it’s based solely on the use of the XML and JavaScript languages. AJAX has recently become quite a popular tool for web developers as it allows websites to fetch new content or move content around the page without actually reloading or refreshing the entire page. AJAX is heavily used in sites such as Digg, Apple.com and 37 Signal’s Basecamp.
So, which is better? Well, it ultimately comes down to what kind of website you’re trying to develop, how lightweight you’d like your site to be and how much you’re interested in spending.
If you’re after an immensely dynamic website that uses a lot of video and animation sequences, Flash would be the best way to go, however it definitely has its down sides. Flash-based sites take a lot longer to load and most users will require a plugin before they can view the site. Most sites developed in Flash will also cost a considerable amount more than a standard HTML/AJAX site due to all the graphic design work that must go into developing such a site.
Alternatively AJAX offers a lightweight and cost effective solution that will work well in every popular browser. As AJAX is basically HTML with some scripting thrown in, you’ll find AJAX based web pages load far quicker than Flash-based sites. You’ll also notice that the end user experience on an HTML/AJAX based site is a much more enjoyable one for all involved. With AJAX, users have the ability of fetching new content, dragging items around the page and viewing stylish animation sequences without reloading the entire page once. This is the beauty of AJAX as we now have a platform that functions on a similar level to Flash but is based entirely on HTML, JavaScript and XML.
At the end of the day, it really comes down to usability. If you’re developing a website for a band or you’re interested in promoting a movie, chances are you’re going to want to use Flash, otherwise AJAX is undoubtedly the answer. AJAX is brilliant for web-based applications, content management systems, e-commerce sites and standard websites and ultimately provides the client with a cost effective and lightweight solution that will be compatible in every popular web browser currently in use. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself – why wouldn’t I want to use AJAX? Remember, never second guess how important usability is when it comes to a successful website. It’s critical.
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