• overview
  
• (X)HTML and CSS
  
• DHTML, flash,
  javascript
  
• AJAX
  
• back-end integration
  
• content management
  
• accessibility
  

We were doing AJAX before it became a buzz word.

Call it what you will, rich client, thick client, richly interactive, or asynchronous javascript and XML (AJAX), Tristream has been at the forefront of creating fast-loading, robustly interactive pages for web applications for many years— long before Jesse James Garret identified the practice.

At the heart of AJAX is the asynchronous javascript. Asynchronous, because I-frames, a capability of modern browsers, allow portions of a screen to refresh without having to refresh the entire screen— even down to a single value in a table. Javascript, because object-oriented javascript, (HTML on steroids) allows skillful programmers to create complex interactions between iframes.

Much of the gain in user experience comes just with asynchronous javascript. XML adds an additional level of speed because it facilitates interactions with a single or multiple databases.

AJAX is attracting so much attention because when used well, web based applications can approach the speed and capabilities of their desk top forebears.