JAVASCRIPT

jquery serialize

var datastring = $("#contactForm").serialize();
$.ajax({
    type: "POST",
    url: "your url.php",
    data: datastring,
    dataType: "json",
    success: function(data) {
        //var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(data); if the dataType is not specified as json uncomment this
        // do what ever you want with the server response
    },
    error: function() {
        alert('error handling here');
    }
});

serializeobject jquery

$.fn.serializeObject = function()
{
   var o = {};
   var a = this.serializeArray();
   $.each(a, function() {
       if (o[this.name]) {
           if (!o[this.name].push) {
               o[this.name] = [o[this.name]];
           }
           o[this.name].push(this.value || '');
       } else {
           o[this.name] = this.value || '';
       }
   });
   return o;
};