function makeRequest(url) {
		var http_request = false;

		if (window.XMLHttpRequest) { // Mozilla, Safari,...
			http_request = new XMLHttpRequest();
			if (http_request.overrideMimeType) {
				http_request.overrideMimeType('text/xml');
				// See note below about this line
			}
		} else if (window.ActiveXObject) { // IE
			try {
				http_request = new ActiveXObject("Msxml2.XMLHTTP");
			} catch (e) {
				try {
					http_request = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
				} catch (e) {}
			}
		}

		if (!http_request) {
			alert('Giving up :( Cannot create an XMLHTTP instance');
			return false;
		}
		http_request.onreadystatechange = function() { returnData(http_request); };
		http_request.open('GET', url, true);
		http_request.send(null);
	}
	
	function returnData(http_request) {
		if (http_request.readyState == 4) {
			if (http_request.status == 200) {
				updateList(http_request);
			} else {
				alert('There was a problem with the request.');
			}
		}
		if (http_request.readyState <= 1)
		{
			showLoading();
		}
	}
	
	function showLoading()
	{
// 		document.getElementById('he-letter').innerHTML='Loading...';
		document.getElementById('li-artistslist').innerHTML='<li class="loading">Loading...<br /><img src="themes/1/images/loading.gif" /></li>';
	}
	
	function updateList(http_request) {
		var xmldoc = http_request.responseXML;
		
		// Update page title
// 		var node_title = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('title').item(0);
// 		document.title=node_title.firstChild.data;
		
		// Update listing letter
		var node_letter = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('letter').item(0);
		var new_letter = document.createTextNode(node_letter.firstChild.data);
		var new_span = document.createElement("span");
		new_span.setAttribute("id", "he-letter");
		document.getElementById('he-heading').replaceChild(new_span, document.getElementById('he-letter'));
		document.getElementById('he-letter').appendChild(new_letter);
		
		// Remove current child elements of li-artistslist
// 		document.getElementById('li-artistslist').innerHTML='746';
		
		// Insert new child elements for those in the XML file
		var node_count = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('artist').length;
		var new_li = '';
		for (i = 0; i < node_count; i++) {
			var artist_name = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('name').item(i);
			var artist_url  = xmldoc.getElementsByTagName('url').item(i);
			new_li = new_li + '<li>';
			new_li = new_li + '<h2><a href="' + artist_url.firstChild.data + '">';
			new_li = new_li + artist_name.firstChild.data;
			new_li = new_li + '</a></h2>';
			new_li = new_li + '</li>';
		}
		document.getElementById('li-artistslist').innerHTML=new_li;
	}
	
	function getArtists(url) {
// 		showLoading();
		makeRequest(url);
	}