quote:
at the moment when the client selects a file and hits the upload button, the browser hangs until the file is fully transferred and only then does the next page display notifying the client that the transfer was successful - is there anyway of giving a progress report will a file is uploading

Unfortunately the Progress Bar thread mentioned above doesn't appear to relate to CGI at all.

If the CGI's output (the new HTML page) doesn't change until the upload is complete, then you could use a server-side technology to display a notice saying "file upload in progress".
One option would be to use JavaScript.
(I know this might not be popular, it's just an option!)

You would use the onSubmit() handler attached to the submit button.
This could then, for example, turn on the visibilty of a layer with a notice saying "file upload in progress".
note: this method would not be able to calculate the progress of the file upload.
Here is a couple of links for more information,
script examples
tutorials