---
title: "Yes or No, is Ajax a RIA Technology?"
date: 2007-01-16
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2007"
    url: "/tag/2007.md"
---

# Yes or No, is Ajax a RIA Technology?

I was reading [a post by Ryan Stewart](https://web.archive.org/web/20111103031423/http://blogs.zdnet.com/Stewart/?p=223&tag=nl.e622), who is my main source of news and information about anything to do with RIA (Rich Internet Applications). Wikipedia [defines](https://web.archive.org/web/20111103031423/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application) RIA as “web applications that have the features and functionality of traditional desktop applications.” When I think of RIAs, I usually think of Adobe’s Flex or Microsoft’s WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). Probably the most famous example of RIA is Flash. I also regard Ajax as a RIA, because it enables desktop app-like interactivity. But something Ryan said reminded me that there is a bit of a disconnect out there on what is a RIA exactly? Ryan wrote:

> “I see a couple of big reasons RIAs have become much more popular in the past few months. One is that a good experience has become a primary requirement for the web. I don’t really count Ajax as a full RIA technology, but it has raised the expectation level and made people start to wonder how much better the web can be.”

Ryan doesn’t see Ajax as a RIA. Perhaps because he has high standards on what an RIA app should be able to do. Ryan writes more about the topic [on his personal blog](https://web.archive.org/web/20111103031423/http://blog.digitalbackcountry.com/?p=615); also see [this post](https://web.archive.org/web/20111103031423/http://weblogs.macromedia.com/jd/archives/2005/03/ria_definition.cfm) by Adobe’s John Dowdell from 2005.

We all know Ajax has its limitations – Google is probably the biggest proponent of Ajax, yet its web apps have been known to cause frustration at times. I bet every user of Gmail pounds their desk whenever a page refresh problem arises.

So in order to try and get a consensus about Ajax and RIA, I’ve created a very simple poll. Please take a minute to tell us whether you think Ajax is a RIA technology.

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ajax_ria.php))*