[development] ajax context and related template

Hi, i am wondering if there is a way to know the current context of the request and render a template related to it In frameworks (like zend or symfony), you can have views related to current context ex : node.tpl node.ajax.tpl * In ajax context i want to render the node in an overlay with a close button and no layout * If i access this same node in normal http request, i will have the page layout with all menus ( and no element related to ajax load ) What must i do to achieve this ? is it possible ? Thanks for for sharing a little of your drupal experience I currently use drupal 7 beta ps: I know drupal is not a framework :-)