Online Registration via AJAX
I'm looking at new kinds of learning network interfaces and am particularly interested in things that can be built with AJAX:
In the Library 2.0 Boot Camp we are running, Sherri Vanyek pointed out wonderful online registration system built in AJAX.
Here is how it is described by the developer Duo Consulting:
Web 2.0 gave us the answer through the development of an Ajax application for online registration. We also introduced a new layout and user flow, adding a “wish list” function to allow the user to select programs in advance. The wish list offers increased functionality and decreased server load on registration day.
So what were the results?
* 50% increase in throughput over last year. Thousands of classes were successfully purchased through the system – at the initial rate of nearly 500 registrations per minute!
* 10% decrease in bandwidth over last year.
* Decreased cart abandonment by 80%.Because we were able to increase throughput without additional bandwidth, we saved tens of thousands of dollars in additional hosting costs – while creating a better experience for the user. That is just one example of how Web 2.0 can make a difference.
Here is a screen shot of the registration page:
You start on the left and select from categories of programs. For this example, I started with zip codes. Then you pick your zip and the program groups within each zip code open up in the next column. Once you have selected your group, you then pick the program and it is highlighted so that you can either a) complete online registration or b) save the program to a wishlist for walk-in registration.
I talked to the CEO of Duo Consulting, Michael Silverman in order to get an explanation of why and how AJAX made a difference for this project. He said, “The main reason we moved in this direction was to have smaller pages and faster page loading. The registration system has to handle a huge volume in a very small time frame four times a year. This was putting a large load on the hosting environment. AJAX worked well for this application because the information is sitting on the page rather than in a database on a server that has to be called on.”
AJAX is defined by wikipedia as: ” AJAX , shorthand for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is a Web development technique for creating interactive web applications. The intent is to make web pages feel more responsive by exchanging small amounts of data with the server behind the scenes, so that the entire web page does not have to be reloaded each time the user makes a change. This is meant to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, and usability. The first known use of the term in public was by Jesse James Garrett in his February 2005 article Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications. At subsequent talks and seminars Garrett has made the point that Ajax is not an acronym.”
For the Chicago Park District, AJAX also enabled better usability for site users. Fred Salchli, CTO at Duo Consulting explained, “The application economizes transactions between the server and client. We were able to define requests and corresponding responses to the absolute minimum of data transfer in both directions. The legacy application delivered an excess of information; the AJAX application delivers only what the users requests.”
Another by-product of the new design was the wishlist. “Users can scan options and save them to a wish list. When it comes time to register, the user comes back to the list, logs-in and brings up the wishlist. By using the wishlist people are signaling what they want to sign up for. This unexpected benefit gives the Park District the ability to monitor program popularity - providing clearly valuable information if acted on prior to registration.”
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