Could the live-updating box auto update everything? Instead of showing a box, why not:
Just get the new post content, unless you're on SO
Do this:
window.setInterval(function() {
var activity = $('.new-post-activity');
activity.click();
}, 1000);
This would auto click the box, meaning the new answers/questions/edits will show up.
NOTE: This is what I'm talking about.
I have thought of it often too, and it seems a nice feature to have. The problem is though that when you are reading the front page, it is very annoying that it constantly scrolls down to make place for the new content (this is the same for questions and answers, which could benefit from the same auto-update functionality).
I agree this issue is a lot smaller argument on low-traffic sites since the posts aren't changing that frequently, but still then I wouldn't like the page to scroll away to make place for new content.
What I would like see is that it updates posts that are already there. There is no scroll-down necessary to update the modified, answered by X, etc. which often causes the notification to appear.
$.get("/posts/ajax-load-realtime/{postIdsSemiColonDelimited}?title=true".formatUnicorn({ postIdsSemiColonDelimited: post.id }), refreshPost(div.find('.postcell, .answercell'), post));as soon as it receives the WebSocket info, so they'd edit thepostEdit()function to remove the box and auto-refresh the post.