This is truly the age of the browser interface. Internet Web sites and Web applications increasingly offer rich, dynamic, browser-based user interfaces that deliver everything you expect from an installed desktop application. These applications deliver function and ease-of-use without requiring expensive desktop software installs.

The underlying technology for this browser UI approach has existed for a decade but the term AJAX was coined in 2005 by Jesse James Garrett of Adaptive Path. The core of this approach is the ability to make dynamic, asynchronous data requests of a Web server without having to reload the Web page or hit the refresh button. This approach enables Web developers to build rich UIs that run on every browser and across every popular platform.

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