Ajax and Spry

Today I've had an introduction to Ajax and Spry via Adobe Dreamweaver Classroom in a Book for Adobe CS4.. and some Internet research.

Ajax: Asynchoronous JavaScript and XML
Spry: Adobe Spry is an Ajax framework that integrates with Adobe Dreamweaver.

Ajax is the prime technology driving Web 2.0 usability and interactivity. It works to load all relevent web page data without displaying until requested byt the user. The standard configuration only loads one element at a time or loads upon user request. Ajax technology allows for a more smooth and interactive experience.

Ajax requires an advanced knowlege of JavaScript, so the use of Spry reduces the learning curve and allows for an excellent website design by an less experienced developer to happen! yay!! :)

There are 4 main Spry tools:

• Spry data
• Spry Widgets
• Spry Layout widgets
• Spry Effects or Behaviors

More on Spry on the Adobe labs website: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/spry/

There is also a Microsoft framework   ASP.Net Ajax  http://www.asp.net/ajax/ 
The tools for this are on Visual Studio for the ASP.Net 3.5 framework.