Chapter 6. AJAX Suggest and Autocomplete

Suggest and Autocomplete are popular features implemented in most modern browsers, email clients, source-code editors, word processors, and operating systems. Suggest and Autocomplete are the two sides of the same coin—they go hand in hand. Usually, there is no distinction made between the two of them, but “autocomplete” is used more frequently.

Autocomplete refers to the application’s ability to predict the word or phrase the user wants to type. This feature is very useful because it speeds up the interaction making the user interface friendlier, it helps in using the right vocabulary, and it helps avoiding typing errors.

In browsers, you can see autocomplete in action when you type a new address in the address bar or when you fill in some form, and the autocomplete engine of that particular browser is triggered. In email programs, it is very useful be able to choose the recipient by typing only a few letters.

In source-code text editors, I’m sure...