What is Cache and Why do I need to know what it is?

7 of 7 – For Account Managers, Owners, Marketing Managers and Clients – What is Cache Why do I need to know what it is?

Please note this is Linked From our Main Article – 7 Things Clients Should Know When Building A Website

I must have said this at least a thousand times, “Have you cleared your cache?” and then realised that clients generally have no idea what I am talking about. Cache is memory that remembers a previous state of a website. So often, when we make a live change to a client’s website and they look at it, it appears nothing has changed!

To avoid the difficulty of clearing it(and loosing your browser / cookie history), install a second web-browser like Firefox and run it in privacy mode; set it to remember no cookies, store no data or images and no browser history. When you need to look at updates to your website, use Firefox instead of your standard browser to eliminate the chance that cache is showing you old content. 

This isn’t 100% foolproof, as your Internet provider may be caching content too. Depending on the time you have available, you may need to trust in your agency until you get home to check on another device, or for example: load the full site on your mobile. There is always a work-around for cache, but sometimes it means getting creative. Rest assured, if one computer is showing the latest version, cache will catch up and render the right content in the next day or two.

  << Back to Main Article