[IxDA Discuss] ajax or not (for content)?

[Vishal Iyer]

I realize this has been beaten to death, but I just came off a discussion
where the dev folks implemented ajax for

1. filters, pagination, larger image view, sort, change # of products (like
the ones in http://tinyurl.com/ythdmx)
2. content tabs

They claimed faster page load time as the biggest reason for doing it (and
most other people in the room were sold). I didn't agree and these are the
reasons I gave and they countered each of it:

1. ajax is suitable for tool like interaction models, not content/ breaking
the web paradigm --- whats wrong in breaking the paradigm?
2. content change is not clear--use hourglass or something to give
indication
3. SEO issues-- hack implemented to overcome it
4. URL's can't be passed-- hacks can again be implemented

So, I lost the argument...but something doesn't feel right ...to me this is
the equivalent of how a few years back folks started creating complete
websites in Flash. I think AJAX is great (for content) in cases like
refreshing scores, updating weather etc, but not something like this. This
is still not as bad as the hidefdvd.com example- where the complete site was
implemented in ajax (they have changed btw), but still bad enough.

-- 
-Vishal
http://www.vishaliyer.com