Using Ajax and JavaScript in your Django website

The best method for asynchronous loading.

Background Photo by Tudor Baciu on Unsplash, edited by Arcade on Canva

Now I'm a die-hard Pythonista, but there comes a time in your development journey (especially when it comes to web applications) when you have to interact with other programming languages to provide the best efficiency for your app. One such unavoidable language is JavaScript. JavaScript offers excellent functionality for manipulating the document object model (DOM) in the browser and allows for dynamic data updates.

Understanding Ajax & the limitations of Django

Limits of Django

Whilst Django gives users great functionality, the biggest issue I've faced is loading query data without refreshing the page. This is where Ajax steps in.

What is Ajax?

There is a reason JavaScript is the language of the web. It allows for easy interactivity with both the front and back end and easy manipulation of data. Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) take this a step forward by allowing web pages to update asynchronously (simultaneously) without reloading the page. Ajax exchanges data behind the scenes with the webserver enabling us to load, parse and display data quickly and efficiently