After a great session on the History API with Syd Lawrence it’s time to announce our third topic.

This time around we’re focussing on WebSockets, which make it possible to have two-way communication between a browser and the server in real-time. All of this is done without the need to constantly poll for new data with techniques like AJAX; instead everything is streamed to you as and when it’s needed (rather than requests coming from you with AJAX).

WebSockets are perfect for uses like live data feeds (eg. for stock trading), instant messaging (eg. IRC), and even things like multiplayer gaming.

Getting involved

You can submit a question to our panel of experts through Twitter, making sure to include the #askmdn hashtag (it’s important). It’s really as simple as that!

Once the session has started we’ll answer as many questions as possible within the hour. You’ll know when your question has been answered as we’ll tweet you directly using your @ Twitter username.

If you don’t have a question you can still get involved with the discussion by using #askmdn and the unique hashtag for the question that you’re talking about. We’ll announce the unique hashtags for each question during the session so don’t worry about that now.

Our experts

We’ve got another great line-up this week, all of them eager to answer your burning questions about WebSockets.

First up are the guys at Pusher (@pusherapp) who spend all day every day working with WebSockets. No one knows more about WebSockets than these guys!

Finally we have Seb Lee-Delisle (@seb_ly), back with us after being on the panel for the inaugural Ask MDN on HTML5 gaming. Seb has been working with WebSockets a lot recently, even creating his own WebSockets server from scratch! His experience and knowledge in this area is invaluable, especially with his background in animation and gaming.

When

This session will occur on Friday the 26th of August at 6pm BST (UK time), which is the following time around the world:

• 10am in San Francisco (PDT)
• 1pm in New York (EDT)
• 7pm in Paris, Berlin and Madrid (CEST)

Find the time where you live to make sure you don’t miss out.