I work around a lot of websites. And these websites are constantly updated with new content and images. Sometimes a site doesn’t look right. Or maybe a change that was made doesn’t look like it ‘took’. The first step you should ever take in the even something doesn’t look right is to refresh and clear the cache.
What is a cache?
This simply means that the browser you are using is presenting a saved version of the webpage. This happens because that saved version of the page may load faster than actually loading the page. Some websites are developed to only show cached versions of their pages because it’s faster. This can cause confusion when you are trying to update an event or a blog post and the page you are updating does not appear to be changing. So clearing the cache essentially refreshes everything on the page.
There are two quick ways you can refresh a page. On Mac, just click Command + Shift + R. On a PC, just click Shift + F5. These two hotkeys will help you in the event you need to hard restart a page.
If you want to truly clear a cache (and remove some things the browser remembers, try this: For desktop browsers, to quickly open menus used to clear your cache, cookies, and history, ensure that the browser is open and selected, and press Ctrl-Shift-Delete (Windows) or Command-Shift-Delete (Mac).
And if you’re really having an issue, you should seek help in clearing the cache of the specific browser you are using. The best resource I’ve come across for that is from Indiana University. They put together a nice breakdown of all the browsers to take out the guess work.
Happy web surfing!
