You hear the word Ajax a lot these days, particularly in technology, so; what are people talking about? A Greek hero from the Odyssey - sure. A bathroom cleanser that gets your sink sparkly - indeed. But today, more often then not, Ajax refers to a specific type of web programming that has taken the internet by storm.
The term Ajax was coined as shorthand for - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML by a man named Jesse James Garrett who founded a technical consultancy called Adaptive Path. He would want me to make it clear that Ajax is not an acronym (so it isn't spelled AJAX).
What Mr. Garrett described back in 2005 was a stack of technologies (not a single technology) being used at the time by very cutting-edge web sites. This stack of technologies allowed web sites to be turned from a set of static documents connected by hypertext links into something that approximated a true application. This was the intellectual birth (or coming out party anyway) of the Rich Internet Application (RIA).
At the heart of Ajax is a software object built into all browsers called the XMLHttpRequest object. This mouthful is frequently shortened to XHR for those that want to talk about it in fewer syllables. This software object allows JavaScript code, executed in the browser, to go out and request data from a server without reloading a page.
This technology was not new in 2005, but Mr. Garrett put a catchy name to it, and people noticed. Around the same time, a number of web applications such as Gmail emerged and people wondered, "how the heck did they do that?"
Think of a typical web page as one where you have to click a link or submit a form then wait for a new page to be returned to see your result. It's slow and doesn't really act the way we expect software to act. Now look at web applications like Flickr, Gmail, or Youtube. You can click in a box and enter some data, and your updates happen without you leaving the page. The magic that's happening in the background is Ajax (or and XRH call).
With Ajax, the idea is that you get a richer, faster user experience. Properly implemented, a web page can become a rich internet application (RIA). Most extremely popular web sites use Ajax to some degree. Amazon's rating system, where you click on the number of stars you give a book or CD is one example.
Even though Ajax and XMLHttpRequest both refernce XML, the data that is used does not necessarily have to be formatted as XML. In fact, more and more other data formats, such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), are being used. One restriction on XHR is called the single origin policy. This is a security policy, enforced by the browsers, that only allows JavaScript to request data from the server that originally served up a page. There is a technique using JSON that get around this restriction.
Since 2005 a number of toolkits have emerged that have allowed web developers to more easily implement Ajax in their applications. Some of these are Dojo, Prototype, jQuery, GWT, YUI... and many many others.
As a technology stack, Ajax is now quite mature and being used almost everywhere on the web. Ultimately, the most important thing to remember is to create the best posisble user experience.
Also called acne vulgaris, acne is a skin condition wherein the skin's sebaceous glands produce too much oil (sebum) and it gets trapped underneath the skin. It can appear as a pimple, a whitehead, a blackhead, or mild inflammatory acne. In severe cases, it can appear as nodular acnes or cystic acnes. Although this disease is non-contagious, it affects all ages, genders and races.
What causes acne?
There are primary and secondary causes of acne. Here are some of the primary causes:
lGenetics. The tendency to develop acne runs in families.
lHormonal activity. During puberty, a sudden spike in sex hormones called androgens causes the sebaceous glands to enlarge and make more sebum. The same thing happens when a woman is nearing her menstrual cycle. Her sex hormones spike and drop, causing an increased activity to the oil gland.
lStress. Stress triggers the adrenal glands to increase activity and hormone output.
lLack of exfoliation. An accumulation of dead skin cells can cause a blockage to the pores of the skin where the sebum escapes.
lHyperactive sebaceous glands.
lBacteria in the pores. An infection in the sebaceous glands can cause an inflammation and eventually, more sebum production.
What are the different kinds of acne?
Acne is generally categorized as non-inflammatory and inflammatory. The different non-inflammatory acne conditions are:
lWhiteheads. These form when bacteria and the excess sebum stay below the skin surface.
lBlackheads. These are formed when the trapped sebum and bacteria create a partial opening on the skin surface and turn black because of the melanin on the skin.
The different inflammatory acne conditions include:
lPapule. A papule forms when the trapped sebum and bacteria create a break in the follicular wall, letting white blood cells rush in to the follicular wall break and causing an inflammation.
lPustule. It forms a few days after a papule formation, when the white blood cells make their way to the skin surface.
lNodule. This form of inflammatory acne can be sore to the touch.
lCyst. This form of acne is a large, pus-filled lesion that occurs as a severe inflammatory reaction to the trapped sebum and bacteria.
How can acne be treated?
Thanks to the advancements in modern medicine, we now have many ways to treat acne. These treatments include:
lMedications. Topical antibiotic or bactericidal gels and creams can be used on top of the acne breakout to disinfect the affected area and kill the bacteria causing the infection. Antibiotics can also come in tablets or capsules to be taken orally.
lHormonal treatment. This is used for hormone-triggered acne breakouts.
There are instances where professional skin care treatments need to be administered. Here are some treatment methods that need the assistance of a professional dermatologist:
lPhototherapy. Intense violet light is flashed onto the affected area at least twice a week to reduce the number of acne lesions.
lLaser treatment. This treatment is used to reduce the scars left behind by acne. It is also said to help prevent the formation of acne altogether.
They say an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Living with acne can be difficult, you'll be subject to humiliation. So before you even develop acne, take good care of your skin.
Both John Moore & Abbey Grace Yap are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
John Moore has sinced written about articles on various topics from Information Technology, Energy Healing and tax. John Moore is a Web 2.0 expert who creates Rich Internet Applications. He has created the web's first RIA community at