Right now the server seems to use the application/json to serve html snippets. I use an ajax call to one of the json endpoints to get back a string of <li>s to persist the menu in a side bar. This video shows what I did
http://vimeo.com/28268644. (Btw there is alot that is not done in the vid including elements I have hidden like the donate button, opds link etc.)
I would prefer a json object that I can use to create any type of html element I'd like client side. Libraries like backbone.js expect json objects to persist and manipulate client side. So do template systems like handlebars.js
If there is a function that does just that I have not seen it but like I said before reading python is hard for me cause I don't know the language. I suppose I can replace the html with a properly formatted json string and that is what I am thinking I will do.