Agylen

As XMLHttpRequest is rapidly gaining popularity as an effective tool for building highly interactive, dynamic Web UIs, care must be taken in ensuring that Web applications remain usable (and accessible, I might add). While plenty of resources exist on making usable — and accessible — traditional HTML forms, very little has been written on the subject of usable XMLHttpRequest-based UIs. So it's with great pleasure that today I discovered (via Patrick) the following two-article series by Thomas Baekdal:

XMLHttpRequest Usability Guidelines | Baekdal.com: “XMLHttpRequest is becoming more and more popular, and many people are currently exploring what we could do with it. Unfortunately this also causes people to reinvent old and forgotten usability problems.”

Usable XMLHttpRequest in Practice | Baekdal.com: “Two weeks ago I highlighted the most important usability issues with XMLHttpRequest. This week we are going a step closer to see how you can mix the two - including a practical example, just for the fun of it.”

Be sure to read his advice and in particular the following one:

Do not over-use it:

With every new approach, there is a normal tendency to over-use it. But don't. Always consider if XMLHttpRequest is relevant for the user. Is it just noise that breaks the users flow, or does it really accelerate their workflow.