About This Document..................................................................... 2 Purpose of t his Document........................................................ 2 Who is this document for?........................................................ 2 Execut ive Summary................................................................ 2

User Int erf ace Design Wit h Aj ax......................................................... 7 General Principles of Interface Design......................................... 8 Shneiderman\u2019s Eight Golden Rules.............................................. 8 Norman\u2019 s Four Principles of Good Design...................................... 8 Interaction Styles.................................................................. 9 Specific Guidelines................................................................ 9 Aj ax Design Pat t erns.............................................................. 9

Table 1: Aj ax Applicat ion Areas..................................................... 4 Tabl e 2: When Not To Use Aj ax...................................................... 6 Table 3: Communicat ion Design Pat t erns......................................... 10 Table 4: Dat a View Design Pat t erns................................................ 11 Table 5: Edit ing Design Pat t erns................................................... 11 Table 6: Hierarchies, Set s & Navigat ion Design Pat t erns....................... 12 Table 7: Layout Design Pat t erns.................................................... 12 Table 8: Obj ect Display, Select ion & Manipulat ion.............................. 12 Table 9: Save & Undo Design Pat t erns............................................. 14 Table 10: Search Design Pat t erns.................................................. 14 Table 11: Time Design Pat t erns.................................................... 14 Table 12: Widget Design Pat t erns.................................................. 15

While Aj ax t echnology has recent ly received a lot of at t ent ion, t here is uncert aint y about benefit s, best pract ice, and risks. This whit e paper addresses t hese quest ions, primarily from a usabilit y perspect ive.

Aj ax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) refers t o using a combinat ion of pre-exist ing soft ware t echnologies t o creat e int eract ive Web applicat ions. The sudden emergence of Aj ax (or Aj ax) as a t erm, first int roduced in February 2005 by Jesse James Garret t ,1 reflect s t he rapidly growing market awareness of t he benefit s Aj ax can provide.

The primary st rengt h of Aj ax is allowing Web applicat ions t o have t he int eract ivit y of familiar deskt op t ools. Aj ax can be t hought of as a set of enabling t echnologies for t he Web 2. 02 t ransit ion from a st at ic t o an int eract ive Web environment .