Patent ID: 8904278

Claim:
A method of avoiding flicker between old and new versions of a page element in a content page, the method comprising: under control of a physical computing device comprising digital logic circuitry: receiving a web page comprising a synchronous script and an asynchronous script, the synchronous script placed before the asynchronous script in the web page so as to facilitate execution of the synchronous script prior to the asynchronous script; executing the synchronous script associated with the web page, the synchronous script comprising at least one operation specifying a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) id or class attribute, the operation configured to assign a hidden visibility property to a first version of a first page element of the web page having the HTML id or class attribute, wherein assignment of the hidden visibility property to the first version of the first page element based on the HTML id or class attribute allows the synchronous script to facilitate hiding of the first version of the first page element without causing second page elements of the web page not having the HTML id or class attribute to be hidden; loading the first version of the first page element and the second page elements, said loading comprising displaying the second page elements but preventing the first version of the first page element from displaying due to the first version of the first page element being assigned the hidden visibility property; and subsequent to execution of the synchronous script, asynchronously executing an asynchronous script associated with the web page, the asynchronous script configured to replace the loaded first version of the first page element with a second version of the first page element and to assign the second version of the first page element to have a visibility property based on the HTML id or class attribute to cause the second version of the first page element to be rendered visible in the browser in place of the first version of the first page element; wherein the combined action of the synchronous script and the asynchronous script are configured to prevent user-perceived flicker of first displaying the first version of the first page element followed by displaying the second version of the first page element.