Quote Originally Posted by PeejAvery
JavaScript cannot access the server-side. And, since the OP wants the time from the server, there is going to have to be some implementation from the server.
Agreed, I was going the same way as your post where the server pushed down the current time with the initial page and the client did the updating.

Note that in addition to "Drift", this type of approach is difficult (and not covered in your sample) if the time zone (or day light savings time) changes while the counddown is in progress.

The "DIFFICULTY" I was referring to earlier is common in cryptography type (time variant keys) where the timing must be synhronized (typically on the order of sub-milliseconds) including all network and processing latency.

Imagine how hard it would be to have a system where a page was supposed to chage exactly at 03:00 GMT on a given date. Every browser must display the new page at exactly the same time (+/- 1mS) regardless of where in the world they are, or what their networking connection is, or what their hardware capabilities are...