Browsers do not show changes in content

I update my website but the changes don't show

[Familyman501]

What strategies are recommended to enable fresh content to be immediately seen? I used to see the changes as soon as I uploaded my files. Sometime I have to manually refresh once or twice. Now, however, I upload changes to my website and I cannot see the changes.

I use M Firefox and IE.

I have tried deleting the offline content.

Has anyone a great strategy on this?

Hank

[Fotiman]

One trick that might work for you is to pass in some query string value. For example:

http://www.example.com/yourpage.html?ck=1

Obviously, you'd need to change the value each time you wanted to make sure were not looking at a cached version.

You can set HTTP headers to prevent caching and/or force a page to "expire". It's important to note that there are several places where a page could be cached:

1. At your web server
2. At some proxy between the client and your web server
3. At the client (browser)

Appending a querystring value should work well at the client side. But when the page is cached at some proxy between the client and your web server, you might have no option but to wait. In the past I know this was a problem with AOL users for example (though I don't know if that's still true).

Also, if you have Firefox, make sure you install the Web Developer Toolbar add on. You can disable the cache in the browser very easily using that.

[alt131]

Hi familyman,

Locally, clear the cache, not just off-line content - especially in ie where the two are different. ie is renowned for being problematic in this area, so I also recommend using a third-party tool as well. Search on "cache cleaner" or similar - there are lots that are free.

If you have set your files to cache for a period rather than expire immediately that will also work locally - use a tool as the browsers won't delete that material until the time/date of expiry.

Even if your pages are set to expire immediately you may still have troubles with the server - I have one irritating host that routinely takes at least 15 minutes before refreshing to new material. Occasionally I defeat the thing by deleting the relevant files, waiting a few minutes then uploading the new ones - but not always. It makes no difference that it should happen immediately ;)

As Fotiman says, there are several places content can be cached, so the strategy I use for smaller sites is to make sure I have a local version that is an exact duplicate of the server. Its easier to maintain control locally, and means that if it looks fine, links work etc, then it will most likely work on the server too.

It is important to test material served from the server as well, but the ability to thoroughly test a local copy makes a short delay a bit less of a disaster.