The Ajax Papers Part III: Why, When, and What In parts one and two in this series on Ajax we examined in detail how Ajax communication works and how JavaScript is used to update the page after an Ajax callback. We looked at some of the specific ways RadAjax and ASP.NET AJAX handle Ajax operations and, in short, removed (or at least greatly reduced) the mystery of how these frameworks do their magic. In this installment, we’ll move past the “how” and “where” of jax and start to look at the “why”,“when”, and “what” (I don’t think we have any need to look at the “who”, so we’ll have to be satisfiedwith 4 of the 5 w’s) Why should you use jax in your web applications? When is it appropriate to useAjax? When is it not? What is the real value of adding Ajax to your application? What are the drawbacks? To answer these questions we’ll start by looking at common scenarios on the web that have benefited greatly from the use of Ajax. Then we’ll explore when you should- and shouldn’t- use Ajax in your applications. Finally, we’ll wrap up by comparing the data that is sent over the Internet when you use Ajax callbacks instead of traditional page PostBacks to quantify jax’s value