How to periodically poll for data, but stop the Firefox page loading indication?

Question

I need to have my web page periodically poll the server for new information every 10 seconds. I have a timer (setTimeout) setup to call my AJAX function to get the data. On completion, the AJAX function sets the timer for another 10 seconds.

The problem is that Firefox continuously displays the "Page Loading Indicator" (Throbbing).

How do I periodically poll for new data, but stop the throbbing?

P.S. If I hit the ESC key, the throbbing stops and the timer keeps going, so that is a crude workaround. I need a way to not involve/confuse the user.

Answer 1

There are a few techniques to "background" loading where you don't display the status bar or cursor changes:

XHR Eval and XHR Injection are the only techniques that do what you want for FF (and all other browsers). You can see the test/example site here: http://stevesouders.com/hpws2/couple-xhr-injection.php

Answer 2

You can also look at WebSockets.

It will be faster and there will be no need in timer.