# Solved: Force load of web page vs. load from cache?



## Riverglen (Aug 29, 2006)

I have a very simple web page that automatically updates daily. However, very often when I view it I just get the version that is in my browser cache rather than the latest version from the web. I have to do a manual refresh from the browser to see the latest version. Not a problem for me, but other viewers of the page may not realize they aren't seeing the latest information.

Is there an HTML tag or some such that can be included in the page that will force a refresh and override any old version that the viewer may still have in their browser cache?


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

http://webdesign.about.com/od/metataglibraries/a/aa080300a.htm


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## Riverglen (Aug 29, 2006)

Many thanks. Looks like exactly what I need. One thing is still a little unclear however. Does this tag result in a one-time update or a periodic refresh. A periodic refresh would be overkill for what I want to accomplish.


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## leroys1000 (Aug 16, 2007)

It causes the page to refresh anytime it is loaded,so you always
get the new view.


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## Riverglen (Aug 29, 2006)

Well, I tried it, and it works fine for my purposes. But it does result in a periodic update. So, if all you want is an initial forced update from the on line web page, you have to trade off the period of the update against the wait for the initial (and in my case the only needed, refresh). In my particular case, a ten second update interval is acceptable since the web page is so small that the update is instantaneous, and repeating it every ten seconds is not really a problem, albeit kind of inelegant.


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## DaBeers (Oct 31, 2008)

A better fix might be to drop a cookie. If no cookie is found, or it is older that 24 hours, perform an automatic refresh and drop a new cookie. Otherwise, continue normally.


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