While all signs point to desktop-like applications on the web, it is still unclear what technologies will power those applications 5 years from now. Advanced Ajax, CSS and unobtrusive JavaScript are the new hotness and look promising, but I think we may see evolution in other key areas like Flash and XML display formats.
Even with libraries like script.aculo.us in their toolbox, non-Flash developers are still years behind Flash developers when it comes to animation. When I look at the recent release of the Flash / JavaScript Integration Kit, I wonder if the gap will close because the technologies merge or because JavaScript animation gets better thanks to new buzz created by Ajax.
Merging Flash with our current development practices is definitely a promising option after reading how Andy Budd became convinced that there may be a place for Flash in our future, or how Jake Tracey plans to use Flash to control sound in his latest project, Chalk. We’re even starting to see developers thinking about taking Flash beyond animation / sound and into common display formats. Currently, most pages build dynamic HTML with JavaScript and server side code. Another way to approach this interaction is with Flash, JavaScript and XUL. To read more about this fusion, check out the following articles below:
A lets not forget about the shiny new ExternalInterface Class for Flash 8!! Makes calling JS functions as simple as well — calling them!
You have greate documentations. Please can you provide a tutorial on Ajax and prototype.js from the begining available in pdf format?