Questions tagged [ajax]

AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And XML) is a popular technique for creating interactive websites, though other technologies (e.g. JSON) are often used instead of XML.

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2 votes
1 answer
807 views

Design pattern for dashboard components and state refresh

I'm building a SPA with React as the front end. It basically consists of a dashboard-like page with 3 separate (but semi-connected) components. The components are: a messages/notifications area - ...
25 votes
2 answers
26k views

When should I use AJAX to submit forms VS regular page submit

Edit: in addition to the earlier edits below about points being moot if you're doing an SPA, this entire question becomes essentially moot with the use of progressive enhancement SSR frameworks like ...
12 votes
1 answer
19k views

Accessible way of notifying a screen reader about loading the dynamic Web page update (AJAX)

The rise in the use of AJAX to dynamically update the website instead of using standard hyperlinks and separate Web pages has resulted in accessibility problems for users of assistive technology (e.g. ...
23 votes
6 answers
6k views

Should we be optimistic or pessimistic with UI updates on AJAX requests?

We are discussing in our team how best to handle UI updates after a user does something to cause an AJAX request to the server. Here are options we are considering: Instantly update the UI and add/...
3 votes
5 answers
1k views

Showing a loader for longer than required because it looks good?

I have a website whereby lots of the loading/posting to a database is done with ajax. At the moment there are no loading screens. As such, if something breaks, the user has no idea that anything was ...
4 votes
5 answers
1k views

Should items filtering be combined with dynamically loaded items (load more)? If so, how?

I've run into this design pattern a few times: You have a grid of items with X number of items loaded by default. You have filters that will add/remove (hide/show) items from the grid You have a ...
2 votes
4 answers
675 views

Why does Google Calendar use a RED 'Loading...' overlay

I've noticed that Google Calendar uses a red Loading... overlay in the top righthand corner on Ajax actions (e.g. opening a calendar item): I know that Google, being Google, have redefined the usual ...
5 votes
3 answers
2k views

Best practices for inducing AJAX application front-end refreshes

I develop and maintain several web applications for internal use at my company. They are all PHP/MySQL-based with HTML/JavaScript front-ends utilizing jQuery and various plugins for UI elements, grid ...
2 votes
1 answer
233 views

"Shopping cart" without ajax

I am looking for a way to implement a "shopping cart" like functionality while balancing "user experience" and software quality. In my case I have a classroom with students and need to handle the ...
12 votes
6 answers
11k views

Is there a name for this instant filter search pattern?

I've been trying to find a jQuery plugin which creates behavior similar to that of Stack Exchange user searches. The user search used on Stack Exchange sites is not an auto complete, but is more akin ...
6 votes
4 answers
7k views

Best way to display errors to users who encounter an internal server error

(User Flow: user try to submit a form request) Should I display the "Internal Server Error" message? Is there any message that understandable to user rather than saying "Internal Server Error"?
2 votes
3 answers
256 views

Back to Posts Page from a Post that belongs to page 2. Load page 1 or 2?

I have a Portfolio website where Single Posts (an image and a description) load from the front page dynamically and the Browser address updates. In the front page (or index) I have first 20 posts and ...
1 vote
1 answer
744 views

How to tell a user about an error after clicking a button?

I'm sending an AJAX request to refresh the blog page with posts that apply to certain a category. How do I tell a user that his request failed? Should I tell him exactly why it failed(error, internet ...
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why is form submit preferred over AJAX for login forms?

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and Stack Overflow, among many others, use form submits with full page reloads instead of AJAX on their login forms. I saw this question (When should I use AJAX to ...
5 votes
6 answers
1k views

Subtle and understandable indication of AJAX page fragment load in progress? (No gifs!)

I am working with a home-grown CMS and have recently "upgraded" the entire thing to use javascript/AJAX/XHR to handle every page load and form submit, no exceptions. So far so good. All links load a ...
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

What to do when loading is TOO fast? [duplicate]

On slow connections (or if the server is randomly slow for some reason) it makes sense to have loading indicators. But when the connection is good, the req is too fast and the loading looks horrible. ...
4 votes
1 answer
404 views

Loading pages with AJAX. Should the browser address change when the user calls the content or once it arrives?

I am loading pages using AJAX and changing the browser address bar accordingly for a smooth experience. My doubt is if the browser address bar should change when the new page is called by the user (...
1 vote
2 answers
118 views

AJAX loading vs. "hardcoded" comments - is there any advantage of one above the other?

Because of certain reasons, I'm sometimes tied to an extremely slow internet connection. What I realized with this, is that certain sites (for example, any subdomain of blog.hu) works in a way that ...
0 votes
2 answers
213 views

Creating real time experience without blocking ui

I have an edit text and a list showing a set of tags. When a user enters a tag in the edit text 2 things happen: First, a request is sent to backend to store that tag. Second, that tag is added to the ...
2 votes
2 answers
571 views

How and when to notify user of AJAX call error/exception

I'm working on a website in ASP.NET that loads the page, before doing an ajax call through javascript to get the actual data from the database (and show it inside a table most of the time). However, ...
3 votes
1 answer
1k views

How best to show a document preview

I have a fairly basic web form that gathers information such as name, address, description, yada, yada. I have to do a rewrite and so am wondering what the best practice currently is to show a ...
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

How Should Tabbed Content be Loaded?

There are several approaches to loading content inside tabs. For example, Load all content initially, then just manipulate the DOM to show/hide tabs Load only the content of the active tab initially, ...
44 votes
4 answers
5k views

Why show the user 'There are n updates since page load, refresh to see them' rather than adding new data

On a page which features a list of items (such as stack overflow questions or quora), the site often polls for data but instead of displaying that data it instructs the user to refresh the page to see ...
11 votes
9 answers
4k views

What to display while waiting for a process (4-5 seconds) to complete?

We realized that in some cases the user may be waiting up to 4 or 5 seconds (depending on connection) for their form (or some action) to be processed. The form involves getting data from other servers ...
2 votes
1 answer
459 views

Single Loader Icon vs Multiple Loader Icons

Consider a page with multiple sections , the content of each section is loaded async via ajax once the user has reached the page. Current implementation demands that a loader icon , such as a spinner ...
2 votes
1 answer
103 views

JavaScript driven apps that don't use hyperlinks for most actions. Isn't is super annoying? [closed]

I see a glaring issue in many popular implementations of the modern web app -- not using hyperlinks for all actions. Steam is definitely the worst offender I have experienced so far. If you have ever ...
2 votes
3 answers
131 views

Animation as user feedback: how to do accessibility here without being redundant?

I have a list of "Texts" being displayed on a list. The user can reorder it when click on an action button, and when do that, an animation works as a feedback to the user. The Texts move, changing ...
0 votes
2 answers
230 views

Pop-up overlay in a calendar?

We have a calendar page in our web application that displays appointments (we know all users and train them), optimized for the following use cases: Add a new appointment (by clicking the time) ...
4 votes
1 answer
868 views

What are some accepted styles of Greeking for loading content?

There's a technique that Facebook uses in their Timeline where it'll show fake "content" blocks while it's waiting for the real content to load. From a distance, it looks like the content has already ...
2 votes
1 answer
158 views

Some ajax vs full ajax and user feedback

I'm sorry if this is a duplicate, but I have yet to find a solution for this specific scenario. We have a Rails application where most forms use a regular form submission. However, we also have ...
0 votes
1 answer
569 views

Dealing with captive portals on rich web applications

I'm working on a web application that contains a number of (form) steps in which customers make a series of choices, resulting in a search result at the end. The form is implemented as a single-page ...
2 votes
3 answers
2k views

Ajax file upload error handling and processing logic

Suppose I have a form with the following user flow: User selects value from select list File upload field appears User selects files to upload As soon as the selection is made, files start to ...
0 votes
2 answers
112 views

Cycling status links

Our web application has a calendar page which shows details of appointments. We train all users, but they are generally not tech-savvy. These appointments have one of several statuses: open ...
0 votes
1 answer
332 views

What is a better way to populate values for fields in web forms?

I am designing a web form. In the form, there are several fields, values of which are dependent upon a key field. I have 2 options to present the form to the user. 1) Make the user do a search on the ...
1 vote
1 answer
1k views

Implementing Undo/Redo in a Web Application that uses Ajax

The web application I'm working on aims to emulate traditional desktop applications and I'm finding it a challenge to implement Undo/Redo in this environment. Undo/Redo has been in the specs since ...
10 votes
2 answers
488 views

How many letters should be typed in "guessing" ajax search before first suggestion?

When searching with ajax based suggesting field, how many letters should be typed before it starts to suggest results? 1,2,3..
0 votes
2 answers
62 views

Live Award Winner Announcements [closed]

In a couple of months we have an international awards ceremony to hold, and would like some way of announcing the winners, in real time, on-line via our website for people who are not at the ceremony. ...
7 votes
4 answers
2k views

Is there any good reasons to stick with full page refreshes any more

For a couple of years now we have been living with Ajax and other similar web 2.0 techniques in order to ask for or send content without refereshing a whole page. It's pretty standard in slideshows, ...
3 votes
0 answers
394 views

Are Youtube style loaders the next big UI trend? [closed]

Given that we are in an age where there are a lot of single page applications and AJAX calls are abound, are youtube style AJAX loaders a good replacement to the loading gifs? Its such a simple ...
24 votes
3 answers
5k views

What is a user friendly way of preventing users re-submitting / editing a form while it is submitting?

What is the most user friendly way to block user input to form while form is submitting that can be reused i.e. so I don't have to implement it for each form? For forms with only buttons (I have ...
6 votes
1 answer
232 views

Should we fake succesful form submit, display result and then revert if some conditions are not met?

Like on Stack exchange, when you try to vote up your question, it appears like you successfully voted, count goes up and vote up button highlights, but then when form actually completes submitting ...
1 vote
1 answer
296 views

Float button position

I have a register form where the user can select the type of registration, for example, 'Solo Artist' and 'Band', when the user select one of them the register form is loaded ('Register' button is at ...
0 votes
2 answers
1k views

Form and inputs - ajax vs client side validation [closed]

i'm wondering why i have to validate forms on client side while they anyway need a server side (ajax) validation for not being hacked? IS there any benefit on having both client side and server side (...
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

How to load long-time-taking content?

We have a page that takes very long to load (approx. 15 seconds, might be even more for some clients) as the data it generates is heavy and slow. While we are trying to directly speed it up, 15 is ...
3 votes
2 answers
293 views

When going back to previous page may cause disorder

Let's suppose a page listing items whose URL would be: /items. Its content is loaded through Ajax at the page's initialization time, thus not directly populated on server initially. Each item ...
3 votes
2 answers
150 views

Creating new item with ajax

If I have a form which is used for creating data which will be displayed on the same page, I'm unsure how I should present the new item upon creation. The scenario; an item is created, post data sent ...
1 vote
1 answer
265 views

Combination of AJAX and page refresh when updating content. Will it confuse the user?

I am making a web family tree that will allow users to update biographies that they view in the tree. If they are updating the user's name of a specific biography, it will simply replace the value on ...
4 votes
2 answers
152 views

Vocabulary for a common interface bug

As I am building more sites with more asynchronously-loaded features, I am running up against a certain type of negative effect, which I am also finding quite a lot while browsing the web: 1) User ...
0 votes
3 answers
1k views

Should we load Overlay with loading icon for Ajax loading page?

I am working on an Ajax loading filters for an e-commerce site. On the first page request we load the common html (header, footer, other common contents) as a part of first request and then make ...
-1 votes
2 answers
445 views

Best scenarios to use ajax [closed]

I'm building a website application where users post contents using a form similar to blog-entry forms, this form allows uploading of files, has a wysiwyg editor, etc. Now since it will be posting a ...