Step by Step to AJAX

The figure shown next is derived from Garret's article on Ajax, redrawn to render it horizontally. The figure shows both the prior art (classic interaction) as well as the AJAX embodiment. In the classic version, the client sends an HTTP(S) request to the server, the server checks to see whether any server side processing is to be carried out, processes the server related instructions and sends back the html with CSS, if it is defined. There is a synchronicity between client request and server response.

In the AJAX model, the client sends a JavaScript to AJAX, and AJAX sends the HTTP(S) request to the web server which can also serve XML. The web/XML server sends back the result in the form of XML, and AJAX relies on the Document Object Model (DOM: blue print of web document) to transmit the result in XHTML and CSS. It does so by reading the returned XML's node tree using DOM. The interaction could be synchronous or asynchronous.