8. Dynamic Web Pages: Effective Use of Ajax

What's in it for me?

We've come a long way from the page-at-a-time interaction model used in early web sites, to the highly dynamic components of today. But which approaches are most effective for users and mobile platforms such as touch screens? Which are counter-productive, severely reducing search engine hits or creating a frustrating experience for users?

This webinar introduces the basic concepts of Ajax but focuses on the user-experience aspects including perceptual problems caused by too much interaction, as well as the more traditional usability issues of too little interaction. You'll learn about the basic principles of robust web design and how to use interactivity effectively for a good user experience.

Topics covered

• Basic principles of Ajax
• Ajax versus other approaches to interactivity
• Perceptual issues - change blindness, inattention blindness
• Ajax guidelines
• Ajax, SEO and accessibility
• A worked example (warning: includes some HTML and JavaScript!)

Who should attend

Most of the Guerrilla UCD webinars are intended for a broad audience. However, this session is primarily web-focused (although some aspects of perception also apply to desktop and related systems).

• Web designers and developers
• Webmasters
• Content authors and editors
• Line and project managers
• Technical writers
• Usability, user experience and interaction design professionals

What's included

All Guerrilla UCD webinars are 90 minutes long and include audio/video recordings and a copy of the slides. Recordings will be available for download after the live session. All resources can be shared within your team.

If you are able to attend a live session, you will be able to ask questions using a chat facility. You can connect to the webinar over the internet, or in most countries use a local-dial phone number and follow the session using the slides. See About Guerrilla UCD for more details.

Special offers

See our special offers page for details of our 5-for-the price-of-4 discount and how to get free sessions by referring friends and colleagues..

Related webinars

• 1. Guerrilla UCD Boot Camp
• 5. Human Error, Messages & Feedback

Related reading

B = Background/theory, E = Essential, P = Practical
(see all GUCD-related books)

Instructor

William Hudson is a User Experience Strategist who consults, writes and teaches in the fields of user-centred design, user experience and usability. He has over 45 years' experience in the development of interactive systems, initially with a background in software engineering. William was the product and user interface designer for the Emmy-award-winning "boujou"; now an indispensable tool in major film studios. He has specialized in interaction design and human-computer interaction since the late 1980's. William has written and taught courses that have been presented to hundreds of software and web developers, designers and managers in the UK, North America and Europe. He is the founder and principal consultant of Syntagm, a consultancy specializing in the design of interactive systems established in 1985.

William has presented papers, talks and tutorials at international conferences including CHI, UPA and Nielsen Norman Group Usability Week. He is the author of over 30 articles and papers, including the Interaction Design Encyclopedia entry on card sorting.

William has worked with a wide variety of clients, from startups to established multinationals (click here to see our client list). He is an Associate Lecturer in Computing at the Open University and has acted as an Adjunct Professor at Hult International Business School.