If you pay much attention to trends and developments in the WordPress universe, you’ve no doubt heard something about the web programming technique known as Ajax, and how it can be used to make your WordPress site more dynamic, engaging and downright sexy.
If you haven’t, then it’s high time you got schooled.
The mighty Ajax
Ajax, sometimes capitalized as AJAX, is a kind of lopsided acronym for Asynchronous Javascript and XML. Without venturing too far into the technical mumbo-jumbo, Ajax is essentially a tool that allows you to update part of a web page with new content, without having to reload the entire page.
Ajax is often the technology behind contact forms, pop-up windows, maps, and other dynamic elements of a website.
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Ajax is not a programming language in itself, but rather a method of combining various standards, like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, to achieve the desired result.
Properly explaining how Ajax works is beyond the scope of this article, but if you’re interested in some heavier reading then I would suggest you take a look at these:
Ajax and WordPress
Ajax has been widely deployed in WordPress plugins and themes over the last few years, and there’s a fairly good chance that you’re already using the technology, in one capacity or another, on your own site.
Nonetheless, you might be interested in exploring other ways you can harness the power of Ajax to massively increase the wow-factor of your WordPress project. If you don’t fancy yourself a programmer, then it’s probably best to start with a few good plugins.
Some free Ajax-powered plugins for WordPress
These are five great plugins that will add sleek and sexy Ajax-powered goodness to your WordPress site. They’re all available for free in the WordPress Plugin Directory.
Over to you – what are your favorite Ajax-powered WordPress plugins? Share your recommendations with us.
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Images: Bigstockphoto (Ajax) and Bobbi G Mac.
