A system and method for applying a partial page change to a browser page formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In response to an update request, a first client browser page is updated to a second page by applying one or more partial page changes to the first page, wherein each change comprises an HTML element. Each change may comprise an element unique to the second page or an element that differs from a corresponding element of the first page. A set of changes may comprise a partial page update. In one embodiment of the invention, an origin server may be expressly programmed to receive the update request and serve a partial page update. In another embodiment of the invention, a caching server is configured to generate the partial page update by comparing hash values computed on corresponding elements of the first page and the second page.