David Heller just published Ajax for Designers (PDF) in order to answer:
- Why are we talking about this (Ajax) now?
- Why are we talking about this (Ajax) at all?
- What new paradigms for browser-based interfaces are we facing?
Both Manning Publications and Apress sent me advance copies of their new Ajax books:
- Ajax in Action from Manning Publications by Dave Crane and Eric Pascarello with Darren James (who worked on Open Rico)
- Foundations of Ajax by Ryan Asleson and Nathaniel T. Schutt
Though both of these books are targeted at the developer crowd, there are things for designers to learn as well. Getting an Ajax widget or two going on your site is pretty easy with either of these books.
Bill Scott (Ajax Evangelist at Yahoo!) is working on a “Rich Internet Application Design with Ajax” book that takes a design principle and pattern approach to Ajax development. His focus on principles like feedback, direct manipulation, and minimal effort promises to be example-rich and directly applicable to designers.