AJAX

Asynchronous [[JavaScript]] and [[Extensible Markup Language|XML]] (AJAX) is a combination of web application development technologies that make web applications more responsive to user interaction. Whenever your users interact with a web application, such as when they click buttons or checkmark boxes, the browser exchanges data with the remote server.

Data exchange can cause pages to reload and interrupt the user experience. With AJAX, web applications can send and receive data in the background so that only small portions of the page refresh as required.

Aside from XML, other formats like plain text and [[JavaScript Object Notation|JSON]] are frequently used for exchanging data.

JavaScript and Extensible Markup Language work together under AJAX to ensure the web page content is updated asynchronously. In other words, with AJAX, site content can be updated without reloading the entire page.