I forgot to make my point about AJAX:

AJAX is basically a window to move information on the web without having to navigate the page. This opens a whole new world of possibilities that will let the web borrow ideas from desktop software where interaction with the user doesn’t require a page to “reload�.

We are going to start seeing more interfaces that respond to clicks without reloading the page, documents being served faster, searches that happen in the background before we finish typing the query, registration forms that are easier to fill and validate, etc; an overall better experience for the visitor and more power for the developer.

The acceptance of AJAX has grown so large that IE7 removed the HTTPRequest object from the list of ActiveX components and now supports it natively (so that it works even when ActiveX components are disabled).

Here are a couple of excellent articles from a friend of mine that illustrate the power of AJAX and how simple it is to use it:

- Introducing AJAHT
http://www.expertsrt.com/tutorials/Rod/ajaht.php

- Reading Files With JavaScript
http://www.expertsrt.com/tutorials/Rod/JSread.php