Missed JavaOne? Take the Ajax and Java Studio Creator Hands-On Lab Online (zip). Download this zip file and follow along with the notes and the sample app to build a JavaServer Faces web application yourself.

Having struggled with the JavaScript part of the JavaOne hands-on lab Building Ajax-based JavaServer Faces Web Applications With Sun Java Studio Creator (zip), presenter Chris Kutler says she was excited to learn about a tool that makes the JavaScript part of Ajax technology easier. Geertjan provides a NetBeans module that makes it easy to try out in the NetBeans IDE. Follow along with Chris and use jMaki in Java Studio Creator.

Get an introduction to jMaki and a quick description of how to create jMaki wigets.

This screencast shows how to use the jMaki NetBeans plugin to quickly use widgets from Dojo, Yahoo UI Widgets, and Google to create Ajax enabled applications by dragging and dropping jMaki tags onto a JSP page.

Greg Murray steps you through the process of implementing the Google Ajax Search API as a jMaki widget in this blog entry that includes code clips.

Find out about this preview of the plug-in for NetBeans that lets developers drag and drop jMaki components directly into JSP pages. Article by David A. Utter.

Find out how Sun plans to participate in these two communities to help drive open standards for Ajax programming and increase interoperability across Ajax technologies.

Java.sun.com writer Robert Eckstein sits down with Eric Pascarello, co-author of the bestselling Ajax in Action and moderator of the JavaScript and HTML forums at JavaRanch.com, to discuss the future of JavaScript, AJAX, and the Internet in general.

Java looks toward the future with how the server side of the Ajax equation can better work in the Ajax world. For example, take a look at the new Grizzly http engine with Comet technology support to see what's coming up. You can also read Jean-Francios Arcand's blog to see how he's using Comet in Glassfish (Java EE 5).

This article is titled Asynchronous JavaScript Technology and XML (Ajax) with Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, and is written by Greg Murray who explains how technologies such as JavaScript programming language and cascading style sheets (CSS) have matured to the point where they can be used effectively to create very dynamic web applications that will work on all of the major browsers. This article details several techniques that you can use today to enable your web applications to be more rich and interactive like desktop applications.