new message alert

im trying to get new user messages to show up on my site.. i have looked around on google but can only find info on popup alerts.. i just need a simple javscript code that will display the number of new messages next to the link that takes them to their inbox.. if someone could point me to a site or if they have the code handy i would appreciate it more than you know.. thank you

Add a `read` column to the database table, and use a query to count the number of messages to that ID that has the read column 0, and once they visit their messages, or an individual message, mark `read` = '1'

thanks for your input.. i have this already in database.. and members get alerted when they have a new message but page has to be refreshed in order to see the alert because it is not javascript.. i dont know where to start.. i was looking for a script on google i can modify and make work for me but i cannot find any.. if someone could point me in the right direction..............

i dont know if this will help or not but this is what the message table looks like.. (still under construction obviously) lol

This is done server side, not with javascript. Moving thread to php forum.

this is the code as is right now.. i dont know why this was moved to php when im needing javascript so messages alerts show in real time.. but im a noob too so you guys probably know why..

<div align="center">
    <?
if ($msg_type == "")
{
		$msid = $myrow[id];
		$msql = "SELECT count(*) from og_messages where toid=$msid AND checked=0 AND type like '1%' order by id DESC";
		$mresult = @mysql_query($msql);
		$mmyrow = @mysql_fetch_array($mresult);
		$msql1 = "SELECT count(*) from og_messages where toid=$msid AND checked=0 AND type like '2%' order by id DESC";
		$mresult1 = @mysql_query($msql1);
		$mmyrow1 = @mysql_fetch_array($mresult1);
		$msql2 = "SELECT count(*) from og_messages where toid=$msid AND checked=0 AND type like '3%' order by id DESC";
		$mresult2 = @mysql_query($msql2);
		$mmyrow2 = @mysql_fetch_array($mresult2);
		$sqlpl = "SELECT * from og_userinfo where uid='$uid'";
		$resultpl = @mysql_query($sqlpl);
		$myrowpl1 = @mysql_fetch_array($resultpl);
if ($mmyrow[0] > 0) { ?>
  </p>
</div>

this forum is super.. non-helpful.. thanks to the couple who have tried.. i will browse around for a better community though.. later