[NeroObsedian]

At one point I had thought about using AJAX for something like this but I wasn't sure and I'm still not 100% sure how you would go about doing and how effective it would be.

However, since Facebook is really the craze anymore you'll notice theres a toolbar across the bottom of the page. Again, i'm not sure how it works or what language its written in (assuming AJAX) but I checked available jobs for Facebook(page is in php). Under the Interface Design posting it states the following:

• # Expertise in PHP, XHTML, CSS, Javascript, AJAX
• Ability to write well-abstracted, reusable code for common UI components in PHP and Javascript

Thus I assume its a combination of the above. Try investing some google time on live AJAX/PHP frames/bars/windows etc.