Thomas Baekdal offers some useful XMLHttpRequest Usability Guidelines at his blog. While this technology’s implementation is somewhat new, there are some really good pointers here to keep in mind. As the author states in the beginning of the post, XMLHttpRequest’s popularity has reintroduced a lot of usability problems.
Here is a summary of some of the essential issue is that Baekdal contends designers must keep in mind:
- Don’t load entire pages
- There is a difference between a Web application and a website–note what this difference is.
- Don’t break what the user is focusing on
- Consider how to handle users who are on devices that cannot use XMLHttpRequest
- Don’t use it to eliminate confirmation pages
- Don’t use it to eliminate acceptance
- Don’t overuse it
