Asynchronous JavaScript and XML involve a set of web technologies that when combined, allow client/server interactions to occur with out the entire page refreshing or reloading. For a really excellent description of the group technologies that comprise AJAX check out Jesse James Garrett, Director of User Experience Strategy and a founding partner of Adaptive Path.

A major issue with this emerging technology involves screen readers, and other assertive technologies used by sight impaired or otherwise disabled users. These programs may not be able to adjust and read the dynamic changes on the AJAX pages. A larger issue then the screen readers, even if disabled users are your target market, is the fact that search engines do not parse JavaScript on a page when reviewing the content. This indicates that they will not see much of the content that is contained in the scripted portion of the page. A partial solution to this is the use of the <noscript> tag. The careful use of this tag will provide the search engine some static content to review, in addition to providing information for users that are not able to access the dynamic content. Be careful to make this content the best that you can. Make every effort to provide the same content in the <no script> tag as you would find in the AJAX portion of the page. If the content contained in the tag appears too divergent, competitors may report your site as "spam". If a manual inspection by a search engine rep finds the content too dissimilar, you may find your pages ignored.

Today search engine robots do not read Java content. It is very likely however that in the future, bots will be created that do execute Java and parse the content. Many of the leading screen reader software providers indicate that they are in the process of developing solutions for this issue, and there is speculation that search engines will introduce updates that permit them to execute and parse the content in AJAX. Unlike flash which has been touted as "in development" as a search engine friendly technology for quite some time, the nature of the AJAX language lends itself to a simpler solution, one that maybe developed by the search engines much sooner.

Two renowned Java experts James Edwards and Cameron Adams have conducted a review of major screen readers regarding the impact, and steps that site owners and designers can use to improve the design of their sites, to ensure the best compatibility with screen readers. While current results of their study are not encouraging due mainly to the inability of the current breed of readers to review most of the active content. As James Edward's voices in his review, "Perhaps we should look to screen reader vendors themselves, as they may reasonably be expected to respond to the increasing popularity of remote scripting by providing the necessary hooks and feedback to help make it accessible for their users." Indeed several companies are working to bring solutions to market. Both Jaws and GW Micro two major producers in the adaptive technology industry continue their efforts to improve their respective solutions. Each of them has released updates that improve their individual support for these technologies. Yet even with these product updates they have failed to create a larger standard one that Search engines and Website designers may use to provide additional access to the specific group of technologies.

Only time will tell how effective the design community and search engines will be in developing an effective resolution. In the mean time it is important that sites who choose to implement Asynchronous JavaScript understand the draw backs. Developments in these technology areas will permit the spiders to read and review your sites content, as well as permit your cliental that use screen readers to enjoy it. Until then using partial solutions like the <noscript> tag are important options as they will fulfill the SEO requirements, and provide content for the engines to spider.

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