Force browser to render a partial response immediately

Question

When an HTTP Response contains buffered output (ie, with Transfer-Encoding: chunked) and there is a delay between chunks, Chrome and Internet Explorer do not display the response until the entire response has been received. Firefox will display the content as it arrives.

Try this test page in Firefox, then Chrome or IE.

Is there a way to force Chrome and Internet Explorer to render content as it is received, rather than waiting for the complete response? Some HTTP header perhaps?

Answer 1

The trick is to send a large chunk of data initially to force the browser to start rendering the output. In my testing, 1024 characters is enough to get Chrome to start rendering the response. IE10 doesn't respond until 4065 characters are received.

This is a bit of a hack, but does the job.