title: using location.href for a slow request
body: <p>i have been using "window.location.href" for a long time now without any issues.</p>
  
  <p>the URL is calling a server process that first initiates a conversion and a download, and it usually takes just a second or two.  but occasionally the server conversion/download process might take much longer.  when this happens, my users see a nasty "timeout" message.</p>
  
  <p>so, i am trying to determine if there is any way, possibly using the magic of jquery, something like:</p>
  
  <pre><code>$(location).attr('href',url, function()  {
       success:  {
                    // success stuff
                 }
       failure:  {  // failure stuff
                 }
   });
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>i thought about using .ajax too, but i didnt think i would be able to have the results written to the disk using jQuery.   it seemed a lot easier to stick with windows.location.href if possible.</p>
  
  <p>another possibility is to figure out some way to control how long "window.location.href" is willing to wait.   maybe using setTimeout() somehow ?</p>
  
  <p>thank you very much.</p>