ajax everywhere

Just got an official reply from a Wii engineer that there are currently no plans to support 3rd party applications for the embedded Opera browser. Yikes.

I’m still taking the response with a pinch of salt. After all, unless Wii stops you from browsing the web altogether, it is just a matter of time before developers start posting queries to either Opera or Nintendo about it’s browser support. I’m guessing the engineer’s stance had more to do with installed browser applications.

A few other implications:

• Does this mean Opera widgets won’t be supported?
• Will AJAX be supported?

More details will be posted as they are made available.

Wireless Business and Technology, published an article entitled “Does AJAX Threaten Java ME in the Mobile Ecosystem?” early September.

Pathfinder Agile Ajax Blog’s take on the article can be read here, including views on essential points AJAX needs to support to supplant J2ME.

Alex Russell has posted slides from his first talk on Mobile AJAX at EuroOSCON.

Read post:
http://alex.dojotoolkit.org/?p=586
Download slides (PDF):
http://alex.dojotoolkit.org/06/EuroOSCON/MobileAjax.pdf

Core components & libraries for ajaxTV

• MVC Object Framework
  Optional XML-based framework for applications
  Includes packager for standalone applications
• Core libraries
  XML Parser
  AJAX operations
  DOM operations
• Browser/Hardware-specific libraries
  Hardware connection functions
  Browser API connection
• Effects Library
  Shortcuts for commonly used effects
  Interaction with multimedia components
• Live IDE/Debugger
  Unit testing libaries

The core of ajaxTV will be a pure Javascript-driven MVC framework, implemented as the ajaxTV_MVC Prototype Object. Features of this object include:

• XML declaration of states and worflow
• Method to preload environment variables
• Error handling object

ajaxTV_MVC will enable the developer to abstract his application into a series states, pointing to simple presentation pages or other Javascript objects to fire. This allows for the easy development of standalone client applications that need not interface with hardware specific calls to simulate dynamic behaviour in an application (Obviously, you can still do this if you want to).

With the widespread implementation of Web 2.0 technology in just about every new and mainstream web application, we have to remind ourselves that it was less than two years ago when its essential components (DOM and XMLHTTP in particular) were popularised under the term “AJAX”. While the terminologies were new, the technologies themselves were not - many web developers to this day protest the pop culture phenomenon over programming approaches that have been around for half a decade.

The situation is somewhat different for the embedded browser scene, where the integration of web browsers in devices such as mobile phones and set-top boxes (STBs) is itself a relatively new development (ignoring the mess of WAP). As such, the Web 2.0 has yet to translate itself to the mobile/device scene, until recent developments.

Opera announced support for AJAX operations on the mobile implementation of its browser end 2005, and finally delivered with its latest mobile version. This is a very exciting development as Javascript has become a much more viable if not robust option for development on phones, competing against J2ME, C++ and Symbian native applications.

Nokia has announced it is investigating its own options using AJAX. It’s S60 series of phones bundles a Safari browser which already supports AJAX operations.

Middle this September, SoonR released a beta version of it’s AJAX-powered remote desktop services client that interfaces mobile devices with applications running on a personal computer connected to the internet.

The biggest hurdle of AJAX implementation facing the mobile development community maybe the web development baggage associated with rampant Web 2.0 adopted on the Internet. Developers will, no doubt, worry about memory leaks and network response lag.

Yet, AJAX support for mobile devices may result a form totally different from web counterpart. Specifically, it holds the prospect of pure client-side application development, may not even need interaction with an external web service. Indeed, the biggest contribution AJAX brings to the mobile development scene may not be XMLHTTP object transactions per se, but better control over presentation elements behaviour (using DOM) and an OO programming environment that is robust yet highly accessible to the programmer.

It may turn out that not only will AJAX supplant client application frameworks for mobile devices; it will have a bigger impact on mobile arena than it’s already had on the Internet.