The joys of caching

Do you ever find that you've updated your website, or your web designer assures you that they have made the updates you requested, but when you look at your site it's the same as before? If I had a pound for every time a client has come back to me saying "I can't see the changes", well, let's just say that my piggy bank would be overflowing.

The explanation is quite simple. Your web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari etc.) stores the web pages that you look at, so if you go back to them they will load more quickly for you. This is referred to as 'caching'. This is lovely as it can speed up your browsing for you, however it means that you are not always necessarily seeing the most recent version of the web page.

So, if you're trying to view changes to your website but your web browser is stubbornly showing you the cached version, what should you do?

Firstly, you should try refreshing. All browsers have a refresh button (which is slightly different for each browser but usually looks like an arrow going in a circle) - press this and the page should reload. For Windows users you can hit the F5 key as a shortcut (what would I do without the F5 key??). If the first refresh doesn't work, try it a few times. And a top tip for Windows users is to try Ctrl-F5 (hold down the Ctrl key and hit the F5 key) - this should force the browser to load the most recent content.

If refreshing doesn't do it for you, you can clear your browsing history from your web browser - however, when doing this be aware of the settings you choose or you may delete any passwords you've saved on your computer (but you've got all your passwords safely stored, haven't you, so it won't matter if your web browser stops remembering them for you?). If you're an Internet Explorer user find the 'Delete Browsing History' option and then select 'Temporary Internet Files' - this will remove any stored websites from the browser so you can load fresh versions of everything.

So, next time you're trying to view some updates but you can't see them, try our tips above - it can definitely save you some frustration.