Flex vs Ajax

A few thoughts, Ajax is great in an incremental way. Because you can build in Ajax functionality a little at a time it's not an all or nothing decision. However I've had many people tell me as an AJAX project gets larger managing the Ajax application and libraries can really get out of hand. But it's great when you want to make a static page richer. One problem, proprietary xml formats. From what I've found most ajax "frameworks" are looking for specific xml elements. They all have their own idea of what the xml should look like. Meaning if you want to swap our the js library (openRico, spry, etc..) half way through development you have to change the code on the server to generate a different XML packets. Or if you want to use multiple frameworks you need to code the server to return the same data in different xml formats. Data: Ajax support XML. Flex supports XML (http or webservices), AMF (a lot smaller and faster), RTMP (push), data services, native data type support, Value Objects. With Ajax, and XML in Flex, you are creating and parsing xml on the client and server. In general xml parsing is slow, you'll never notice it will small records. But a grid with a couple of hundred or more records and you will notice it. This is when AMF shines. As for learning XML to know flex. You know CF and html right, Think of flex as a well formed tag based language, not xml. If that helps. However, you do need to learn actionscript. Hth, ---nimer I'm putting together a small Flex vs. Ajax list for dealing with clients and would love is people can point out where I'm wrong and what I've missed. Thanks Assume that price is not an issue (it's not), here are the basic advantages/disadvantages Flex advantages: very capable IDE, Images are part of a flash movie and can't be downloaded directly, supported by Adobe, XML based language, ability to leverage flash components into the application, great speed increase over previous versions of flash (if that was even possible). Flex disadvantages: Needs the flash player, Need to learn and XML based language and possibly actionscript to build real applications Ajax advantages: pre-built frameworks can be leveraged, familiar to those who know HTML, Javascript, etc. no need for additional software past an up-to-date browser, open standard Ajax disadvantages: No IDE, no browser standards (slight alterations per browser), hard to build components outside of frameworks (in general), images and other data open and available. Michael Dinowitz President: House of Fusion     http://www.houseoffusion.com Publisher: Fusion Authority     http://www.fusionauthority.com Adobe Community Expert