javascript pausing a script changes order of appearance -

i have following script:

posting();       pause(time);     postsent(posturl, fields);  function postsent(posturl, fields) {   $.ajax( {                                       url : posturl,   type : "post",   data : fields,   cache : false,   error : function(xhr, textstatus, errorthrown) {         var answer = xhr.responsetext;              answer = answer.split(":");     answer = answer[0].replace(/}/g,"").replace(/{/g,"").replace(/"/g,"");     if (answer == "id")     {             ispostsent = true;                   }     else     {         ispostsent = false;              }               }            });  }  function pause(milliseconds) { var dt = new date(); while ((new date()) - dt <= milliseconds) { /* nothing */ } }  function posting() { var table = '';  table += '<table border="0" rules="none" cellpadding="5" style="z-index:+10; position:fixed; top:35%; left:35%; box-shadow:  0px 0px 5px 5px #888888;" rules="none" border="0" bgcolor="#edeff4">'; table += '<td align="center">'; table += '<img src="images/loading.gif" id="post_status_image">'; table += '</td>'; table += '<tr >'; table += '<td align="center">שולח הודעה, אנא המתן...</td>'; table += '</tr>'; table += '<tr>'; table += '<td align="center" id="post_status"></td>'; table += '</tr>'; table += '<tr >'; table += '<td align="center" ><img id="post_close" src="images/close1.png" onclick="closepop()" style="visibility:hidden;"></td>'; table += '</tr>'; table += '</table>'; document.getelementbyid('post').innerhtml = table;    } 

time set 3000 miliseconds. problem want posting() function show table on screen (its kind of "loading" screen) , pause script. in actual fact, reason script first pausing, , after finishes, show me loading screen... how come ?

browsers run javascript , rendering on 1 thread. 3 of js functions finish before page updated. why should never implement pause function in js based on while loop , checking time. instead need use settimeout() , put code needs run after pause in callback pass settimeout().

using example code:

posting(); settimeout(function() {     postsent(posturl, fields); }, 3000);