function makeRequest(url) {
  var http_request = false;

  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari, ...
    http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
    if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
      http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
      // See note below about this line
      }
    } 
  else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
    try {
      http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
      } catch (e) {
        try {
          http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
          } catch (e) {}
        }
      }
   if (!http_request) {
     alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
     return false;
     }
  http_request.onreadystatechange = function() { alertContents(http_request); };
  http_request.open('GET', url, true);
  http_request.send(null);
  }

function alertContents(http_request) {
  if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
    if (http_request.status == 200)
      document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = http_request.responseText;
    else
      alert('Det har oppstått et problem i henting av siden');
   }
  else {
    document.getElementById("content").innerHTML = loading;
    }
  }