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New Internet AJAX Trend Gives Web a Facelift

Web sites are getting a facelift thanks to a newly popular internet technology called AJAX.

AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript and XML), which has recently been used by high-profile sites such as Google Maps and Yahoo!'s Flickr, works by opening a live communications channel between a browser and the internet site it connects to. It is attracting software designers to invent novel ways for the public to interact with the web.

"AJAX turns a web page into putty," says Andre Parrie, 25-year-old founder of Protopage, a London-based internet startup. "We're getting a taste of what the web will become over the next two years."

Launching today, Protopage (www.protopage.com) -- a free service based on this "web putty" technology -- allows users to replace the "Start Page" in their web browser. Users can create their own page with sticky notes and links to the sites they visit most often -- a personalized springboard for the internet.

What's strikingly different about Protopage is that, thanks to AJAX, everything on the screen is malleable. Bored with the color scheme? See the page rotate through wallpapers and hues. Notes and links can be moved anywhere on the screen by simply clicking and dragging, and they "stick" -- even when you return to the page from another computer.

Web pages that use AJAX will work with recent versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox and Apple's Safari web browsers.

About Protopage

Protopage was founded in 2004 by Andre Parrie, a 25-year-old British entrepreneur whose previous experience spans both the UK and Silicon Valley.

Distributed by Market Wire