A lot of people have been asking me lately about the upcoming book, Professional Ajax, and what it will cover. Well, here’s a brief outline of the chapters:

1. What is Ajax? – Background of Ajaxand its rise to prominence.
2. Ajax Basics – How to use XMLHttp, hidden frames, and more.
3. Ajax Patterns – Design patterns using Ajax, inspired by Ajax Patterns.
4. XML, XPath, and XSL – Information about XML and its related technologies and their uses in Ajax.
5. Syndication with RSS and Atom – Explores building an Ajax news aggregator.
6. Web Services – How to use Web services within Ajax applications.
7. JSON – Introduces JSON as an alternative to using XML for data transmission in Ajax solutions.
8. Web Site Widgets – Learn how to develop simple Ajax widgets that can be dropped into any Web site.
9. AjaxMail – Walks you through the creation of an Ajax Web-based e-mail system.
10. Ajax Frameworks – Covers Ajax frameworks for PHP, .NET, and JSP.

The book will cover server-side solutions in both PHP and .NET, with a little bit of JSP thrown into the mix towards the end.