Let's say that I upload a file using a basic multipart post. The server then receives the request and starts to execute the server side code. Can I somehow in that state start to output the response and after some data is sent start to receive the file? Finally when the file is uploaded I output the rest of the response.
If this is possible I can display file upload progress without using ajax?
I guess this might depend on what I run server side. But let's assume that I have full network control.
Why not just display a spinning icon? Google Image Search
It's not AJAX-free but it seems to do everything else you want. At the very least you might be able to reverse engineer a solution more to your liking...
http://digitarald.de/project/fancyupload/