I'm working on a site that has a lot of images that are repeated throughout yet they aren't cached locally as I'd like. As a result each page load causes a complete refresh of all graphics elements. The webhost has just changed the HTTP headers so that the images come across with a 2 day expiration, but the .shtml files (on the IIS host) don't. The images on the .shtml pages seem to inherit this behavior as they still don't cache.
Is there a way to set a 2-day (or similar) expiration on .shtml pages so that they don't force a reload every time users hit the back button and so that other pages with the same graphics load quickly? (My browser, IE, is set to check for updates. Would like a cross-browser fix.)
