For those not familiar with what Ajax is, the link provided is a decent starting point. However, those involved in web development certainly know what it is, even if the it they are not currently using it. The explosion of web sites utilizing what people term as Ajax has been increasing at a frenetic pace over the last year, with no sign of slowing down. GMail, Microsoft Windows Live and A9, just to name a few.

While I have been using the technologies involved in Ajax since most of them became available in 1997, finding information about them used to be quite a difficult task. It involved getting a book and then trying to hack together some means of getting it to work across more then just IE. Now though, things have changed. Most top tier browsers support the needed functionality and even provide a decent cross browser base through the DOM. While there are exceptions, it certainly is true that web development for multiple browsers is much easier today then it was in 1998.

With the rebirth of the technologies driving Ajax, there is a massive amount of information being written weekly (if not daily)... Frameworks, libraries, packages, server side developments and so it goes. Moreover, the terminology is littered with acronyms, misuse and confusing jargon that sometimes makes no sense. For example, many people call Google Autosuggest an Ajax feature when it is not technically true... Why? It does not use XML, but instead relies on javascript only...  The short of it is, this is where Ajaxian really helps - sifting through and finding the cream of the crop information. In the example, while the Google feature is not truly Ajax, it is certain Ajaxian in functionality.

Ajaxian is not so much of a library of code as it is a hub of information. Accordingly, you can be almost certain that if a new library is released and it receives good feedback, it will show up on Ajaxian. Why is this important? Because as I noted above, since Ajax is hot, the information being written about it is overwhelming and full of noise. Ajaxian is a site that filters out a lot of that noise and can be used as a means of not only finding information but also as a filter towards good information. It is a great starting place to find links that may then lead to more great links.

Additionally, Ajaxian does not focus on one specific platform which is a big plus! Whether you use .NET, Java or PHP on the server - it does not matter and to a developer it really shouldn't. Part of the Ajax magic is the offloading onto the browser client. A lot of the server concepts presented (whether in Java or C#) can be recreated or used on other platforms much like a general design pattern; afterall, in the end a lot of the grunt work is offloaded to the client. So while sometimes the code might be
specific, many times the ideas or concepts are not.

The above is also provides a sequitur into the other useful part - the community. There is not a shortage of comments. If there is code posted or a link to some new resource, it is likely a comment will be posted about some similar one that may be more targeted to your specific use. For example, if a new Java framework comes out that has some Ajax feature built in, many times someone has a link to a .NET version that is similar. Additionally, like sites such as Digg, the reader can get a good idea of the quality of the resource linked to. As I have said before though, the Ajaxian writers do a great job of keeping the content high quality.

I already touched upon this before, but another great thing about Ajaxian is the mixture of demos, concepts, essays and code. Again, the site is about Ajax and delivers information about everything Ajax(ian). Accordingly on any given day it might have a screen shot and link to some new tool tip that emulates Netflix, some block of code that provides a new way of doing x, a new design pattern, a new search engine, or a link to a new release of a staple like Scriptaculous. All in all, if it is Ajaxian in form and is more then just buzzword noise, Ajaxian seems to cover it.

Ben

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