The only thing I'm really lacking is

javascript

 .

I've been looking at jquery[.com] which comes with some

ajax

 -specific functions.

Has anyone here used jquery for

ajax

  and had success?

many thanks

Have not used JQuery, but am strong in JS... what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Do you simply need to know how to throw the requests up to the server?

personally I would suggest making your own

ajax

  library, albeit it basic.
This way you will

learn

  what happens as and when you make calls and subsequently you should be better at using other peoples code.

I would suggest mootools as its very lightweight and comes with a few nice extras if you need it.
If not, as I said, make your own and stick with it, I use my own even though it scrappy, simply because I know it, I know how it works and its perfect fo rme

I was going to go the same direction MM, but I was going to suggest simply the

ajax

 Requestor here in the JS code repository. Pretty damn basic but stable and well vetted as well.