Forcing a DOM refresh in Internet explorer after javascript dom manipulation

Here is the situation. I have some javascript that looks like this: ``` function onSubmit() { doSomeStuff(); someSpan.style.display="block"; otherSpan.style.display="none"; return doLongRunningOperation; } ``` When I make this a form submit action, and run it from a non IE browser, it quickly swaps the two spans visibility and run the long javascript operation. If I do this in IE it does not do the swap until after onSubmit() completely returns. I can force a dom redraw by sticking an alert box in like so: ``` function onSubmit() { doSomeStuff(); someSpan.style.display="block"; otherSpan.style.display="none"; alert("refresh forced"); return doLongRunningOperation; } ``` Also, the obvious jquery refactoring does not affect the IE behavior: ``` function onSubmit() { doSomeStuff(); $("#someSpan").show(); $("#otherSpan").hide(); return doLongRunningOperation; } ``` This behavior exists on IE8 and IE6. Is there anyway to force a redraw of the DOM in these browsers?