Normally, dialog boxes in JQM do not require full HTML pages, just HTML snippets (e.g. :layout => nil) as they are loaded via AJAX and work like jQuery UI dialogs.
However, when you set "$.mobile.ajaxEnabled = false" JQM will no longer load dialogs via ajax, EVEN if you set "data-ajax=true" on the dialog links. That seems like a bug to me, ignoring "data-ajax=true". A patch to fix the problem:
diff --git js/jquery.mobile.navigation.js js/jquery.mobile.navigation.js index f85a491..181b9c9 100755 --- js/jquery.mobile.navigation.js +++ js/jquery.mobile.navigation.js @@ -1322,10 +1322,11 @@ var baseUrl = getClosestBaseUrl( $link ), //get href, if defined, otherwise default to empty hash - href = path.makeUrlAbsolute( $link.attr( "href" ) || "#", baseUrl ); + href = path.makeUrlAbsolute( $link.attr( "href" ) || "#", baseUrl ), + isTargetDialog = $link.data("rel") === "dialog"; //if ajax is disabled, exit early - if( !$.mobile.ajaxEnabled && !path.isEmbeddedPage( href ) ){ + if( !$.mobile.ajaxEnabled && !isTargetDialog && !path.isEmbeddedPage( href ) ){ httpCleanup(); //use default click handling return;