Blue Dolphin have worked with Wrightfield Pools for many years. They redeveloped our website and increased the volume of traffic. Any changes required are done in a matter of hours.
Website Cache Explained
What is a cache? A complete guide to caches and their important uses on your computer, phone, and other devices
- A cache is a special storage space for temporary files that makes a device, browser, or app run faster and more efficiently.
- After opening an app or website for the first time, a cache stashes files, images, and other pertinent data on your device.
- Cached data is used to quickly load an app or website for every subsequent visit.
When viewing common WordPress change errors, with clients one common piece of advice that we often communicate is you might need to “clear your browser cache”. So in this article website cache explained we will explain what browser cache is, why you need it and how to clear it should the need arise.
You may well have come across advice related to the cache (pronounced “cash”).If you’ve ever troubleshooted something on your computer or cleaned up your browsing history,
What is most likely, is that you will have been prompted to clear it. But why would you want or need to do that bearing in mind that caches is crucial to modern technology.
There are three main areas where caches play a major role and how they impact you day-to-day,
Software and Devices
Caches are found in both software and hardware. The central processing unit (CPU), the core component responsible for processing information from the software in your laptop, desktop computer, tablet or smartphone, has its own cache.
The technical element – a CPU cache is a small block of memory that’s designed to help the CPU easily retrieve frequently used information. It stores data that your device’s main memory uses to execute instructions far more quickly than if it had to load every bit of information only when it was requested.
Web Browsers
Every web browser, whether it’s Google Chrome , Vivaldi , Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Safari, maintains its own cache.
A browser cache stores files needed by your browser to display the web sites it visits. This includes elements like the HTML file that describe the site, along with CSS style sheets, Javascripts, cookies, and images.
For example, when you visit www.amazon.co.uk , it downloads
- all the images associated with product pages you visit,
- the HTML and other script files needed to render the pages,
- personalization information, such as your login information,
- any contents of your shopping cart.
That’s why if you clear your browser cache, retail sites will require you to log back in and rejigger your settings. So not clearing your cache makes for a faster, smoother web browsing experience
Apps
The word “app” is an abbreviation for “application.” It’s a piece of software that comes pre-installed on your device, or it can be software you install on the device.
App is most often used in reference to a mobile app or a small piece of software that runs on a website. Another word for application is a program (unfortunately using the word program could make you sound dated).
Types of Apps
Apps typically run locally on your device but can also run through a web browser (as above). You can find apps on your smartphone, computer, tablet, or other electronic devices, including Smart TVs and smartwatches. The majority of Apps may require a connection to the internet.
There are three main types of apps:
- Desktop apps: Built for computers with mouse and keyboard interactions.
- Mobile apps: Designed for smartphones and touch inputs.
- Web apps: Browser-based programs.
Apps typically maintain their own cache as well. Like browsers, apps save files and data they deem important so they can quickly reload the information as needed.
Every app is different, though, and so the kind of data it caches will vary, but might include images, video thumbnails, search history, and other user preferences.
Benefits of caches
From a user perspective, there are four main benefits to caches, these include:
- They make everything run faster. The key benefit of a cache is that it improves the performance of the system. By storing local copies of web site files, for example, your browser only needs to download that information the first time you visit, and can load the local files on subsequent visits.
- They save data. To help improve performance, apps store recently and frequently used data to the cache and allow the app to run faster
- In some cases they allow the app to work “offline” . For example, if you don’t have internet access, an app can rely on cached data to continue to work even without a connection.
- They store data for later use. There’s a lot of efficiency in only downloading files once. If a copy of a file is stored in the cache, then the app doesn’t need to waste time, battery power, and other resources downloading it a second time. This means the app only needs to download changed or new files. (hence the need to refresh the browser to see a website design change)
Downsides of caches
While modern software depends heavily on the use of caches, they have some disadvantages as well:
- They can take up a lot of storage space. In principle, a cache is a small repository of files used by an app. The challenge is that some caches can grow exceedingly large and significantly limit the free space on your device. Therefore clearing the cache provides the opportunity to recover a large amount of memory at the expense of removing the files
- Misbehaving “apps” can be caused by a corrupted cache If there’s something wrong with a file stored in the cache, it can cause the app to display data incorrectly, glitch, or even crash. Hence the reason that a common remedy for browser issues is clearing the cache.
- Caches can prevent apps from loading the latest version of a web page or other data. In theory, apps are supposed to only use the cache to display files unchanged since the last visit. This is the part that is important to web design and why sometimes you don’t see the changes on a web page your web designer has made. This doesn’t always work, though, and sometimes the only way to see the latest version of a web site or other info is to clear the cache, so the app is forced to download everything new again.
Website Cache Explained – What does it mean to clear the cache?
- Given the downsides of cache, it makes practical sense to clear your cache as part of regular maintenance, in order to reduce the issue of corrupted files
- If a cache gets too large, or if your computer starts to run low on storage space, these issues can also affect your PC’s performance.
The solution is to “clear the cache,” which deletes the files stored in the cache.
If a cache can be cleared by you, the user, the program that owns the cache generally makes that option available somewhere in its settings menu.
In addition to being able to clear the cache on Windows or iOS, here’s how to clear the cache on popular web browsers:
The advantages of clearing the cache include eliminating any files that might be causing it to misbehave and freeing up previous storage space on your computer.
Unfortunately, clearing the cache also eliminates the files that are designed to make your computer run more efficiently.
Important Note: By clearing your browser cache it typically means that you will have to log into all your favourite websites all over again. You may also lose any special personalisation or customisations you had there, including the contents of shopping carts or baskets.
So if you’re experiencing problems with your PC, Mac, or mobile device, clearing the cache may be worth it.
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