don't refresh if not visible

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/).
 - Input cursor will no longer jump to the end on focus https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/4773
 - Removed `Size.cip_size`, which was a clone of `crop_size`
 - Widgets with auto dimensions will now grow if there is a scrollbar https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/4844
+- Don't do automatic refresh when widget is not visible https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/4847
+- Renamed `DOMNode._automatic_refresh` to `DOMNode.automatic_refresh` to allow for customization https://github.com/Textualize/textual/pull/4847
 
 ### Fixed
 

src/textual/dom.py

@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ def auto_refresh(self, interval: float | None) -> None:
             self._auto_refresh_timer = None
         if interval is not None:
             self._auto_refresh_timer = self.set_interval(
-                interval, self._automatic_refresh, name=f"auto refresh {self!r}"
+                interval, self.automatic_refresh, name=f"auto refresh {self!r}"
             )
         self._auto_refresh = interval
 
@@ -476,9 +476,16 @@ def is_modal(self) -> bool:
         """Is the node a modal?"""
         return False
 
-    def _automatic_refresh(self) -> None:
-        """Perform an automatic refresh (set with auto_refresh property)."""
-        self.refresh()
+    def automatic_refresh(self) -> None:
+        """Perform an automatic refresh.
+
+        This method is called when you set the `auto_refresh` attribute.
+        You could implement this method if you want to perform additional work
+        during an automatic refresh.
+
+        """
+        if self.display and self.visible:
+            self.refresh()
 
     def __init_subclass__(
         cls,

tests/test_auto_refresh.py

@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@ def on_mount(self):
         self.start = time()
         self.auto_refresh = 0.1
 
-    def _automatic_refresh(self):
+    def automatic_refresh(self):
         self.count += 1
         if self.count == 3:
             self.exit(time() - self.start)
-        super()._automatic_refresh()
+        super().automatic_refresh()
 
 
 def test_auto_refresh():