function makeRequest(url) 
{
        var httpRequest;

        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
            httpRequest = new XMLHttpRequest();
        } 
        else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
            try {
                httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
                } 
                catch (e) {
                           try {
                                httpRequest = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
                               } 
                             catch (e) {}
                          }
                                       }

        if (!httpRequest) {
            alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
            return false;
        }
        httpRequest.onreadystatechange = function() { alertContents(httpRequest); };
        httpRequest.open('GET', url, true);
        httpRequest.send('');
}

function alertContents(httpRequest) {

	if (httpRequest.readyState == 4) {
		if (httpRequest.status == 200) {
			var fox = false;
			if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox") != -1) {
				fox = true;
			} 
			//do the fancy schmancy stuff here
			var cvr = document.getElementById("cover");
			var pup = document.getElementById("popup");
			if (fox) {
				pup.style.marginLeft = "35%";
			}
			pup.innerHTML = httpRequest.responseText;
			doMod(cvr,pup,true);
			
			
			
		} else {
			alert('There was a problem with the request.');
		}
	}

}
function doMod(cover,popup,show) {
  if (show) {
    cover.style.display = "block";
    popup.style.display = "block";
  } else {
    cover.style.display = "none";
    popup.style.display = "none";
  }
}