Saturday, December 30th, 2006
Predictions: Ajax in 2007
Category: Ajax, Editorial
, Usability
, Web20
Dion predicts:
- Ajax beats AJAX in all but bad newspapers.
- Someone tries to coin Ajax 2.0.
- A large amount of apps have flash AND ajax, and users don’t know or care.
- Many frameworks consilidate or die.
- A widget api means componts can run on many frameworks using one api.
- Ajax wpf/e interop.
- Dashboards become front boards.
- More desktop apps get written with javascript.
Michael predicts:
- 2005 was the year that developers learned all about Ajax and by 2006 everyone else in the industry had caught up. In 2007, is is mainstream users who become acutely aware of the trend towards rich applications inside the browser, and discover that even word-processors and spreadsheets – along with a wide array of workplace applications – can be webified. At the same time, users remain oblivious – and rightly so – to the underlying technologies that power them.
- The boundaries of Ajax harden, with most developers gaining a clear understanding of what it can and can’t do with modern browsers and managers in a better position to decide on application architecture (whether to use Ajax, Flash, desktop, etc.).
- More attention on Ajax accessibility due to some government report or court case.
- Google Office. Finally!
- Backlash against Google Office as managers learn that their data must be hosted externally in order to use it. Pressure from bloggers and some analysts to make an Office appliance that can live behind the firewall, but it’s not happening in 2007.
- The advertising and media communities finally become aware that page view metrics are no longer the only way, but generally treat it as a problem and fail to see that the situation is actually better than before.
- Several fringe technologies heat up as developers notice they are already being used in some applications and learn how to apply them: HTTP Streaming (Comet), Virtual Workspace (Live Scrolling – never-ending scrollbars), Cross-Domain JSON (along with JSONP, JSON APIs, JSONRequest, and a general lack of awareness about the JSON security issues), Unique URLs (bookmarkability/back button), Lazy Registration (personalized functionality before formal signup). Comet in particular … it may be 8 or 9 years old, but it’s big news in 2007.
- Other fringe technologies grow, but remain, well, fringe. Such as Host-Proof Hosting and applications involving offline storage.
- With its excellent documentation and pattern language integration, the Yahoo UI library becomes the standard weapon of choice among mainstream developers seeking a pure Javascript framework. In the Java world, GWT makes great strides as the platform becomes richer and design patterns emerge.
- Mobile web development continues to suck.
- Javascript increasingly recognised as the world’s most popular “second language” and becomes popular as a lingua franca to describe generic programming concepts. Several attempts at server-side Javascript frameworks.
- IE7 causes more than a few headaches.
- Firebug is installed by pretty much any developer using Firefox.
- CSS is back, baby! Echoing the recent mass adoption of Javascript, developers who previously had a fleeting familiarity with CSS now become fluent practitioners.
Best wishes for 2007, however you play your Ajax!
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4.1 rating from 64 votes
I’m glad
AJAXAjax is starting to mature a bit (my colleague still thinks Flash/Flex is the future of webappz).But I’m especially pleased to see that (in your eyes) CSS will color my life once again. I’m a CSS junkie to say the least…
I absolutely have to agree with Wouter, CSS makes live so much easier.
Also I hope that Ajax gets out of the hype status and becomes a more practical way to do things, and not the holy grail it is today.
Dion, I am surprised to see you predict that many frameworks will consolidate or die given your Java history :)
Great marketing tip Dion: Ajax 2.0. I want to start using that :).
Sylvan, HTTP Streaming is a bit of a catch-all term…I really mean the Comet notion of streaming (JS usd to update the page based on incoming data stream).
I expect Lazy Registration to heat up as the Web 2.0 market saturates and people turn to thinking about improving churn rates from their competition.
CSS was gone ?
I´ve done CSS for almost 10 years. Registered my first domain in 1997. Whois my homepage if you don´t believe me :)
And Apollo will be a huge boost to RIAs of all kinds brought to desktop.
Sounds reasonable to me..
I don’t understand the Ajax vs AJAX debate…aren’t acronyms capitalized, CSS, JS, HTTP, RIA, JSON, JSONP, GWT, IE7 are all used here in that way…why is AJAX different?
Thanks for your response,
-Curious
One more predict :
More “Ajax developers” will also consider using Flex 2 for RIA application.
Interesting
Interesting predictions – is there a follow up blog that says whether or not they came true? I’m especially interested in knowing how Flex has stood the test of time. And I really like the idea of Google Office. I’ve never actually heard of that before, and I plan on doing some searching to become more familiar with the appliance. Anything Google does is always very interesting…they’re trying to be so much more than a simple search engine, and it’s really changing how search engines operate. So many of the smaller ones that didn’t try to evolve or offer more services have nearly died out, and I have a feeling that there will come a day when it’s only Google and Yahoo. I have heard of firebug, and I agree with your prediction – it’s an incredibly useful tool that any developer running Firefox should have installed and be using!
It’s already 2008. What happened to your predictions? I’ve been way out of AJAX league for the whole year last year because I focused on something which is non-techie. But I just can’t get rid of AJAX from my system. So, how’s everything? Were your predictions right? What do you think will happen this 2008?
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I think ways of programming Web 2.0-style functionality will mature. Specificly, http://web2services.com offers a hosted framework of Comments and Ratings that you interface with using web services and RSS feeds. So you don’t have to worry about designing or maintaining a database. It’s a quick way to get off the ground with implementing ratings and comments on your web pages, letting you focus on things that differentiate your web site, SEO, and other important things.