AJAX vs Flex
June 2, 2007
Hummm. I would love to hear from Web developers their thoughts between the two. I hear AJAX is getting tired. What are your thoughts?
As a recruiter, I have a number of clients migrating to AJAX and there is tremendous demand. However, I have heard from a few Web developers that AJAX is getting tired.
Is it a religious thing or is there truth to it and why?
Thoughts… What are your comments?
IMO, AJAX isn’t getting tired. However, it seems like the new trend is for AJAX and Flex to be used together so that developers can take advantage of the strengths of each one.
Look at Google Map’s new “street view” functionality. The street map is built in AJAX, but the actual picture is Flex.
Google Finance is similar: mostly AJAX but the charts are Flex.
AJAX works well for user input, and for making text “selectable” so it can be copied and pasted into another application. As a counterpoint, look at Yahoo’s new Maps, built in Flex — you can’t paste in an address using the keyboard, and you can’t copy the directions into Outlook. And forget spell-checking, which AJAX gives you for free when you use the Google toolbar.
Flex works well for non-text visualization, such as charts and maps. For these, user input is typically limited to mouseovers and mouse clicks. And refreshing a Flex chart or map is often easier than doing the same in AJAX.
Which will win in the future? It’s hard to say. The barriers for each are as follows: AJAX needs to continue to become a more productive development environment if it’s to win out. Flex needs to work more like a native desktop app, with seamless text input and output, if it’s going to become dominant.
My two cents…
Personally I think Ajax has yet to hit its pinnacle. While it is quite done at the moment, there are still many undiscovered roads left on the web, many that will deal with Ajax technique, not so much the technology. With the stronger emphasis on standards and compliance, and an increase awareness of the need for accessibility, Ajax will continue to grow as nifty client side technology add-on that will allow many enterprise level interfaces to offer enhanced user experiences for many years to come.
Flex has its place, but so does Ajax and because of this, Ajax will be around for quite a while before it is “tired”.
Just an opinion of mine…
Robert Gonzalez