What is the best method for creating an XMLHttpRequest object?
It should work in all capable browsers.
For a library-less solution, you can emulate Prototype's use of Try.these fairly easily:
function newAjax() {
try { return new XMLHttpRequest(); } catch(){}
try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP.6.0'); } catch(){}
try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP.3.0'); } catch(){}
try { return new ActiveXObject('Msxml2.XMLHTTP'); } catch(){}
try { return new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP'); } catch(){}
return false;
}