jQuery - Adding a TimeStamp to Injected Content -

i have along lines of:

by default these panels empty. user actions can populate panels, , users can switch between panels.

the problem have right switching between panels keeps refreshing content server, when it's been loaded, slow ui experience.

i thinking of appending timestamp each of panel divs:

<div id="panel-1" timestamp="13123131313"></div> 

and using timestamp determine if should rehit server, if it's under minute don't, if on minute refresh content.

what i'm looking for:

1. your thoughts on this?
2. where can safely store time stamp?
3. suggestions doing timestamp comparison. simple jquery solutions?

thanks helping me think 1 through.

you accomplish easily—with valid markup—using jquery's .data() method.

something akin this:

// store timestamp on initial ajax load var timestamp = new date().gettime(); $('#panel-1').data('timestamp', timestamp);  // how retrieve last timestamp var last_stamp = $('#panel-1').data('timestamp');  // example of comparing timestamps , setting new 1 var new_timestamp = new date().gettime(),     last_stamp = $('#panel-1').data('timestamp'); if (new_timestamp - last_stamp >= 60000) {     $.ajax({         /* ajax options */         success: function() {             var timestamp = new date().gettime();             $('#panel-1').data('timestamp', timestamp);         }     }); }