Stop Using Ajax! (Not 2.0)
. . . and I have more to say about the use of AJAX!
Often, I am called in to work on a web application that has existed for a long while. The application may suffer from poor usability as well as inaccessibility. My job may be to extend the functionality by constructing a new component. However, even after I have done my work, large parts of the application remain as they were.
In these cases, not matter what I do, the application will remain inaccessible to some users. In such a case, I use AJAX with no compunction. I can improve the usability and responsiveness of an application immeasurably.
The government of Canada has hundreds of applications that are used every day by civil servants across the country. These applications were developed using old style ASP – or straight JSP running on Tomcat – and old style HTML. Many of these applications do not use CSS at all. Often, they can only be viewed using IE. (Many departments still use IE 6.) Yet these applications represent an investment of hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars each, plus training and maintenance.
What’s more, many of these applications were build by people who knew how to build web pages but did not understand how to build applications. I am not blaming anyone. It is what it is. These applications can be confusing, if only because each developer was reinventing the wheel.
By introducing tab controls, short-cut keys and and accordion controls, I reduce the cost of training and support, and deliver a user experience that takes advantage of what people already know about using the typical desktop application. By refreshing sections of the page selectively rather than reloading the whole page, I can avoid breaking the concentration and flow of the user. This is not a bad thing.
Don’t get me wrong. The Government of Canada takes accessibility seriously. Check out the guidelines I need to be familiar with. Still, you have to know that I often work with applications that were build long before these guidelines were devised. The work may take a while.
AJAX has its place. I might even suggest that the GOL guidelines I refer to above could be expanded or amended to include web applications. The web application is a different beast. It is not a web page, or a site composed of a series of pages. The so-called “page” is a bad metaphor. There should be a separate standard for the common look and feel of web applications used by the government of Canada, but that’s another issue.
Stop Using Ajax! (Not)
I was interested by a recent post by a writer who is not fond of Ajax. He seems to feel that we should stop using AJAX, or at least avoid it. I am trying to be sympathetic, but I would like to register the following thoughts. I do not mean to disagree so much as I mean to make some general observations.
- I am currently working on an application that is intended for sighted people. It uses a map component and a GIS database. This application will never be used by blind people, and I am using AJAX. I do not believe that this is a bad choice.
- I believe that information should accessible, but an application in more than just a web page. A web application composed of web pages held together with hypertext is an unsatisfying experience.
- Making a building entrance wheelchair accessible in no way diminishes my access to the building. However, I feel as I have to give up functionality to meet the special needs of others. Asking developers not to use AJAX is like asking Spielberg not to use a camera because some people are blind.
- Perhaps it is time to point a finger at the people who design and build readers that cannot cope with AJAX. Why aren’t they keeping up with the web?
- The writer of the article I reference above repeats several times that AJAX is immature. AJAX used to be called “remote scripting”. AJAX is a new name for a technology I have been using for almost 10 years. When can we call it mature?
I would be upset if I found out that my blog was inaccessible.I mean to reach an audience, and I hope to reach any interested person.
On the other hand, my clients rarely ask me to build completely accessible applications. I do not know how to create menus for blind people or how to build forms that deaf people can fill out, nor do I have any illusions that it is easy. I feel hampered, and unfairly faulted.
If there were a framework that I could use to make my application accessible in an alternative format, and my clients were willing to pay me to do the work, I would use it. However, I have become good at developing highly usable applications for sighted people – that is a lot of people! A heck of a lot!
Give me an alternate means to interact with people who struggle with various challenges, and I would be happy to do it, but let me use my AJAX. Please.
I promise to learn more, and to come up with strategies. We should all learn more. Developers are always learning – many find they cannot keep up. I will learn. But, give me time. The so-called accessible web may be accessible, but AJAX enabled pages are so much more usable. Doesn’t that matter?
The Importance of Web Site Design
I like a nice looking web site, and I especially like well designed web applications. The feedback I get from clients is that my applications are very easy to use. Many people say they look nice.
Having said that, I find that making things look nice is a lot of work. Some aspects of CSS, HTML and JavaScript are fussy. The simplest things can take more time than you would imagine. Especially for me – my strengths are in working with the database, and in designing and writing the backend components.
I often judge companies by their web sites. If a site is not graphically pleasing, or if it is not easy to use, I am likely to be less interested the product’s and services that are offered on the site. However, I am quickly realizing that some people do well by providing usability alone.
Here is an example: the Hwaki site. If there ever was a web page that promised nothing in an age of glitter and glitz, this is the page. Right? It might surprise you to know that this company develops, supports and maintains a product which may be the most widely deployed SQL database in the world.
It would be interesting to find other examples of successful companies that have plain, or even ugly, web sites. It would help us better understand success.