var http_request = false;

function makePOSTRequest(url, parameters, callback) 
{
  http_request = false;
  if (window.XMLHttpRequest) 
  { // Mozilla, Safari,...
	 http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
	 if (http_request.overrideMimeType) 
	 {
		http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
	 }
  } 
  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('Cannot create XMLHTTP instance');
	 return false;
  }
  
  http_request.onreadystatechange = callback;
  http_request.open('POST', url, true);
  http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
  http_request.setRequestHeader("Content-length", parameters.length);
  http_request.setRequestHeader("Connection", "close");
  http_request.send(parameters);
}

function alertContents() 
{
  if (http_request.readyState == 4) 
  {
	 if (http_request.status == 200) 
	 {
		alert(http_request.responseText);
		//result = http_request.responseText;
		//document.getElementById('myspan').innerHTML = result;            
	 } 
	 else 
	 {
		alert('There was a problem with the request.');
	 }
  }
}

function sendYourStuff(stuff) 
{
  var poststr = "data=" + encodeURI( stuff );
  makePOSTRequest('your_page.php', poststr, alertContents());
}