We have a page that loads results from a web service.  You can then page through the results, but each page requires another request to the web service.  This means there is a slow response time from the moment "Previous" or "Next" is clicked, where the page you are looking at simply sits there. 

I am tasked to add a loading image, without ajax if possible.  I can easily change the visibility of the loading image clientside with javascript. The problem is that once the "post" is made via the server side click event, the page just sits there as before, but the loading gif animation does not display as an animation.  It just freezes.

 Is there a client-side approach to handle this without using ajax?
 

There's a lot you can do without using some type of ajax mechanism.  What your browser does between the time you send out a request and get a response from the server is completely out of control.  IE likes to hang, FireFox likes to sit a bit longer on the previous page, and others just immediately blank out the screen.

 Your situation is exactly why the need for ajax arose in the first place :)

Indeed, I have discovered that the problem is Internet Explorer.  Here is a thread with several work-arounds to try:

http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90647