http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/views/web/libraryview.jsp?search_by=Mastering+Ajax http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/views/web/libraryview.jsp?... Particular

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/views/web/libraryview.jsp?search_by=Mastering+Ajax http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/views/web/libraryview.jsp?... Particularly tutorial 5. It's a pretty good/quick overview of how all the bits of Ajax (JS, the DOM, XHR, Markup, etc.) work together, along with brief, functional examples. Should get you orientated in a hurry, then you can dive into the various topics as needed.