>
> In your webpage include an iframe with a Javascript to refresh it
> every five seconds. The iframe fetches a page from the server which
> brings in the new data in form of generated JavaScript which writes
> in the parent window. Thus, you get a very short request every 5
> seconds to fetch new data, and it is displayed in the client's window
> very naturally.
>
> ...
Yup. If you go the JS route then you can do even better by using JS to
load data into JS objects in the background and manipulate the page
content directly, no need for even an Iframe. Ignore the dullards who
have JS turned off - it's essential for modern web apps, and refusing JS
conflicts absolutely with proper semantic markup.
http://developer.apple.com/internet/webcontent/xmlhttpreq.html is a good
starting point.
It's clear that this discussion has moved way away from PG! Although in
the context of DB backed web apps I guess in remains a bit on-topic...
M