AFLAX stands for 'Asynchronous Flash and XML'. Defined simply, it is a development methodology which combines Ajax and Flash to create more dynamic web based applications.

Xamlon claims that AFLAX is a 'simpler development technology' and also more easily made suitable to mobile applications than Ajax (although mention of XAML aspects of AFLASH in the Xamlon introductory description appears to indicate a Microsoft operating system platform-specificity).

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, or Ajax, is a web development technique for creating interactive web applications using a combination of HTML and CSS for presenting information, JavaScript for dynamic interaction and the XMLHttpRequest object for exchanging data with the server.

Ajax is not a technology in itself, but a term that refers to the use of a group of technologies together. In fact, derivative/composite technologies based substantially upon Ajax, such as AFLAX, are already appearing.

A cross-platform (or platform independent) software application works on more than one system platform (e.g. Unix, Windows and Macintosh). Web applications are normally usable from any platform with a web browser, regardless of the language they are written in. This is because the code is run on a server and communication with the user agent is done only through HTTP and HTML.

Macromedia Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both a multimedia authoring program and the Macromedia Flash Player, written and distributed by Macromedia (to be acquired by Adobe Systems), that uses vector and raster graphics, a native scripting language called ActionScript and bidirectional streaming of video and audio. Strictly speaking, Macromedia Flash is the authoring environment and Flash Player is the virtual machine used to run the Flash files, but in colloquial language these have become mixed: "Flash" can mean either the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.

A graphical user interface (or GUI, sometimes pronounced "gooey") is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text.

GUIs display visual elements such as icons, windows, and other gadgets. The precursor to GUIs was invented by researchers at the Stanford Research Institute (led by Doug Engelbart) with the development and use of text-based hyperlinks manipulated with a mouse for the On-Line System. The concept of hyperlinks was further refined and extended to graphics by researchers at Xerox PARC, who went beyond text-based hyperlinks and used GUIs as the primary interface for the Xerox Alto computer. Most modern general-purpose GUIs are derived from this system.

OpenLaszlo is an open source platform for the development and delivery of web application with a nice human interface (sometimes called rich internet applications) on the World Wide Web. It is released under the Open Source Initiative-certified Common Public License.

The OpenLaszlo platform consists of the LZX programming language and the OpenLaszlo Server.

•	LZX is an XML and JavaScript description language similar in spirit to XUL and XAML. LZX enables a declarative, text-based development process that supports rapid prototyping and software development best practices. It is designed to be familiar to traditional web application developers who are familiar with HTML and Javascript.
•	The OpenLaszlo server is a Java servlet that compiles LZX applications into executable binaries for targeted run-time environments. OpenLaszlo currently targets the Flash Player.

Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are a cross between web applications and traditional desktop applications, transferring some of the processing to the client end.
RIA's typically:

•	run in a web browser, or do not require software installation.
•	run locally in a secure environment called a sandbox.
•	can be "occasionally connected" wandering in and out of hot-spots or from office to office

In broad terms, user-centered design (UCD) is a design philosophy and a process in which the needs, wants, and limitations of the end user of an interface or document are given extensive attention at each stage of the design process. The chief difference from other interface design philosophies is that user-centered design tries to bend and structure the functioning of a user interface around how people can, want or need to work, rather than the opposite way around.

In software engineering, a web application is an application delivered to users from a web server over a network such as the internet or an intranet. Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of the web browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. Web applications are used to implement webmail, online retail sales, online auctions, wikis, discussion boards, weblogs, MMORPGs, and perform many other functions.

The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a W3C-recommended general-purpose markup language for creating special-purpose markup languages. XML provides a text-based means to describe and apply a tree-based structure to information. At its base level, all information manifests as text, interspersed with markup that indicates the information's separation into a hierarchy of character data, container-like elements, and attributes of those elements. In this respect, it is similar to the LISP programming language's S-expressions, which describe tree structures wherein each node may have its own property list.

XUL (XML User Interface Language) is a user interface markup language developed to support Mozilla applications like Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird. Like UIML, it is an application of XML that describes user interfaces. The acronym is pronounced zool, to rhyme with "cool" (see below).

While XUL is not a public standard, it reuses many existing standards and technologies, including CSS, JavaScript, DTD and RDF, which makes it relatively easy to learn for people with a background in web programming and design.

The main benefit of XUL is that it provides a simple and portable definition of common widgets. This reduces the software development effort in a way analogous to the savings offered by 4GL tools.