With the arrival of WebSockets we finally have a standardised technology for true realtime bi-directional communication between a server and a web browser (or any other client). When we were creating our What are WebSockets? page we decided to write up a history of the technologies that came before and that are in some cases still in use today. How did we (developers) achieve realtime browser push before WebSockets and what were the downfalls of those technologies which meant they never reall...
