Retrieve from cache or server: what is Firefox's logic
I clicked on a hyperlink to visit a web site that I had not visited for a couple of months. Firefox showed me the page as it was when I last visited it. I pressed F5 and the page updated to the latest version. I don't seem to have this problem with other websites; just this one. Does anybody understand the logic Firefox uses when determining whether to display a page from the cache or to get the latest page from the web server?
Using Firefox 10; Windows XP
Chosen solution
The site may not be sending an ETag header in the response headers or otherwise send info that makes Firefox think that the cached data has expired.
- http://www.mnot.net/cache_docs/#CACHE-CONTROL
- http://web.archive.org/web/20101223001824/http://www.mozilla.org/projects/netlib/http/http-caching-faq.html
All Replies (2)
Chosen Solution
The site may not be sending an ETag header in the response headers or otherwise send info that makes Firefox think that the cached data has expired.
Thank you cor-el. The first link mnot is particularly useful. But what I have learnt is that caching is a black art. The logic is influenced by the browser logic, the browser cache size, the web servers caching rules and the html on the page. Impossible for the user to control; very difficult for the web page author. So even if I were to understand Firefox's logic it would not help me much.