More Ajax?

[furst]

I was just looking at Blursoft Metaforum and it looks very interesting. All that ajax has the potential of making the whole experience much better. Is this the direction that vB is headed as well?

[whitetigergrowl]

I hope not. Thats very resource intense if you have alot of members using it.

[DirectPixel]

I hope not. Thats very resource intense if you have alot of members using it.

AJAX server-intensive? Not necessarily. It will really depend on how it's implemented. If you're sending a request to the server for every new piece of information, then yes, it'll increase the load. But if you download the big chunks of commonly-used data all at once, then it's not much of an extra hit.

Many features on that forum can be put into vBulletin with nothing but a few template changes and couple of additional Javascript file includes.

[MrNase]

I was just looking at Blursoft Metaforum and it looks very interesting. All that ajax has the potential of making the whole experience much better. Is this the direction that vB is headed as well?

I hope they don't.. From what I've seen of Metaforum the most things are so useless. I mean who is active on a forum waiting for an updated thread to slowly move up? You simple load the page again and there's the new thread.

[C.Birch]

No only that but if you have a very active forum, topics will be moving up and down all the time making it hard to view the topic list due to them moving about.

[whitetigergrowl]

AJAX server-intensive? Not necessarily. It will really depend on how it's implemented. If you're sending a request to the server for every new piece of information, then yes, it'll increase the load. But if you download the big chunks of commonly-used data all at once, then it's not much of an extra hit.

Many features on that forum can be put into vBulletin with nothing but a few template changes and couple of additional Javascript file includes.

The shoutbox from VB is very server intensive. And thats with all options disabled and nothing but text moving up the box.

There is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing'. Ajax should be used sparingly and only when needed. Otherwise yes, it can and does create extra server workload. And on large sites you really dont want that.

[DirectPixel]

The shoutbox from VB is very server intensive. And thats with all options disabled and nothing but text moving up the box.

There is such a thing as 'too much of a good thing'. Ajax should be used sparingly and only when needed. Otherwise yes, it can and does create extra server workload. And on large sites you really dont want that.

Again, like I said, it really depends on the implementation. The current version of vBulletin uses quite a bit of AJAX, from the in-line thread title editing to the quick-edit features.

The shoutbox is very server-intensive. It's also very insecure. Would you generalize that the security of that script applies to all other PHP scripts? I don't think so. Neither is the performance.

Not all AJAX has to be about displaying up-to-the-second live data. There are plenty of ways to leverage the technology's power without facing the drawbacks of it. Go check out Digg.com, for example. Most of the AJAX features on the site are passive and client-oriented. They don't refresh the page every few seconds (except for Digg Spy) and they contribute to the overall user experience.

Granted, much of the features on that forum are a bit useless, but nonetheless, it is a good demonstration of what is possible if things are taken to the extreme.

I personally wouldn't mind having a slider bar either at the top of a page or in a user options page that sets the default threshold for viewing posts based on some criteria. Similar to Digg.com's comment system, in which lower-rated posts or threads don't get displayed.

[filburt1]

It's a web site, not an application. If you want it to be both, keep an XHTML/CSS frontend (better yet, XSLT when it gets more widely supported) and some other data provider like XML or SOAP objects and communication means (probably still over HTTP) for the application.

[Dean C]

I swear if I hear one more person saying "Ajax-this, ajax that", i'm going to spontaneously decombust.

[Scott MacVicar]

Yeah, I hate all this Ajax everything! Ajax should complement a site, not define it.

Next we'll see people asking for more enterprise, we'll have to start shredding some up and forcing it in.

[Ken Iovino]

I swear if I hear one more person saying "Ajax-this, ajax that", i'm going to spontaneously decombust.

Make sending PMs ajaxable.

[whitetigergrowl]

Again, like I said, it really depends on the implementation. The current version of vBulletin uses quite a bit of AJAX, from the in-line thread title editing to the quick-edit features.

The shoutbox is very server-intensive. It's also very insecure. Would you generalize that the security of that script applies to all other PHP scripts? I don't think so. Neither is the performance.

Not all AJAX has to be about displaying up-to-the-second live data. There are plenty of ways to leverage the technology's power without facing the drawbacks of it. Go check out Digg.com, for example. Most of the AJAX features on the site are passive and client-oriented. They don't refresh the page every few seconds (except for Digg Spy) and they contribute to the overall user experience.

Granted, much of the features on that forum are a bit useless, but nonetheless, it is a good demonstration of what is possible if things are taken to the extreme.

I personally wouldn't mind having a slider bar either at the top of a page or in a user options page that sets the default threshold for viewing posts based on some criteria. Similar to Digg.com's comment system, in which lower-rated posts or threads don't get displayed.

I would suggest going to VB.org and requesting any ajax features you wish to have there.

I have a site with over 3,800 members and growing rapidly. Every time there is a query it adds to the database and server workload. I'm on a shared server like many out there and cannot afford to have more server workload than whats really already there.

While I'm sure a few more ajax features will come...I wouldnt expect it to be anything more than features that are needed or highly requested.

I think some people have a rather large misconception about ajax and how often it should be used.

[Dean C]

Yeah, I hate all this Ajax everything! Ajax should complement a site, not define it.

Next we'll see people asking for more enterprise, we'll have to start shredding some up and forcing it in.

I want vB (Web 2.0 version) It really does my f'in head in.