<script type="text/javascript"> function getXmlHttpRequest() { var xhr; //check for IE implementation(s) if (typeof ActiveXObject != 'undefined') { try { xhr = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP"); } catch (e) { xhr = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); } } else if (XMLHttpRequest) { //this works for Firefox, Safari, Opera xhr = new XMLHttpRequest(); } else { alert("Sorry, your browser doesn't support ajax"); } return xhr; } function getMessage() { //get our xml http request object var xhr = getXmlHttpRequest(); //prepare the request xhr.open("GET", "get_message.html", true) //setup the callback function xhr.onreadystatechange = function() { //readyState 4 means we're done if(xhr.readyState != 4) return; //populate the page with the result document.getElementById('result').innerHTML = xhr.responseText; }; //fire our request xhr.send(null); } </script> <button type="button" onclick="getMessage()">Get the Message</button> <div id="result"></div>