Some links and the search for a backwards compatible XmlHttpRequest…
John Wilger has some interesting thoughts in A Better Web Application Interface and A Better Web Application Interface.
Kevin takes a step back from the detail and summarizes the PHP / Javascript thing that’s been going on here in Exploring client-side interface options and Crossing the Great Divide.
Stephan talks about a web app he built for fun which uses DOM manipulation. You can see the result here.
Amazon’s search engine A9 is open – more client side tricks.
Started working on an adapter for XmlHttpRequest here, that uses document manipulation hacks, the mission being to provide at least something for browsers without an XmlHttpRequest implementation. The basic idea is to have two hidden iframes. The first gets a generated form inserted into it (representing the request) and the submit target being the second iframe, from which the result is collected. The server response is collected by “polling” the second frame a change in string length (avoiding having the remote server generate Javascript to trigger a client callback function). Unfortunately it’s deeply broken right now, I’m not master of Javascript compatibility tricks and time is too short. Could be it needs different versions for different browsers – if there’s anyone insane enough to try…
Harry FuecksHarry Fuecks is the Engineering Project Lead at Tamedia and formerly the Head of Engineering at Squirro. He is a data-driven facilitator, leader, coach and specializes in line management, hiring software engineers, analytics, mobile, and marketing. Harry also enjoys writing and you can read his articles on SitePoint and Medium.
